how to write a rhetorical situation essay

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Master the art of crafting an impactful rhetorical essay to captivate your readers.

When it comes to expressing one’s thoughts and opinions, the art of rhetoric plays a crucial role. Whether it be through verbal communication or the written word, the power of persuasive language has the ability to sway hearts and minds, making it a powerful tool in any communicator’s arsenal. In this article, we will delve deep into the world of crafting a rhetorical essay, a form of composition that requires careful analysis, insightful interpretation, and skillful persuasion. By following a thoughtful and systematic approach, you will be able to effectively convey your message and leave a lasting impact on your audience.

Understanding the Nature of a Rhetorical Essay

An essay of rhetorical nature seeks to analyze and evaluate how the author uses various rhetorical appeals and strategies to effectively communicate their message. By dissecting the text, the writer aims to identify the key components that contribute to the overall persuasiveness of the composition. This could involve examining the author’s use of ethos, pathos, and logos, as well as the rhetorical devices employed, such as metaphor, irony, or repetition. Through a close examination of these elements, the writer can gain a deeper understanding of how they contribute to the audience’s perception and interpretation of the text.

The Importance of Pre-Writing

Before diving into the actual writing process, it is important to engage in thorough pre-writing activities. This includes reading and analyzing the text, identifying the author’s intended audience, and understanding the context in which the composition was created. By doing so, you will be able to gather the necessary information and develop a clear understanding of the rhetorical strategies employed by the author. This will also help you establish your own stance and create a solid foundation for your essay.

Understanding the purpose of a rhetorical essay

Exploring the true essence and objective of a rhetorical essay is vital for any aspiring writer. This type of essay delves into the art of persuasion, dissecting various techniques used to convince an audience of a particular point of view or argument. More than just presenting facts, a rhetorical essay aims to evoke emotions, challenge preconceived notions, and provoke critical thinking in its readers.

Unlike other forms of writing, a rhetorical essay allows the writer to express their opinions and beliefs openly. It serves as a platform for individuals to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of rhetorical strategies employed by speakers or authors in order to sway an audience. By carefully examining language choices, logical reasoning, and appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos, the writer can gain a deeper understanding of the intended message and effectively convey their own interpretations.

Moreover, a rhetorical essay acts as a tool for students and scholars to enhance their analytical skills. It encourages them to critically analyze texts and speeches to uncover the underlying motives, biases, and strategies used. By closely studying the rhetoric employed in various forms of communication, writers can sharpen their ability to identify persuasive techniques and employ them effectively in their own writing.

• Recognize the goals and intentions of the speaker or author.
• Analyze the rhetorical strategies employed to convey meaning.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of those strategies in achieving the intended purpose.
• Develop and present a well-structured argument based on the analysis.

In conclusion, understanding the purpose of a rhetorical essay goes beyond examining the surface-level techniques and strategies employed by speakers or authors. It involves delving deep into the art of persuasion, exploring the intended message, and honing one’s analytical skills. By becoming proficient in this form of writing, individuals can effectively engage and persuade their audience while developing their own critical thinking abilities.

Analyzing the rhetorical situation

When it comes to dissecting a rhetorical piece of writing, one of the first steps is to analyze the rhetorical situation. This involves examining the various elements that make up the context in which the text was produced, such as the audience, the purpose, and the speaker. By understanding these components, one can gain valuable insights into the persuasive techniques and strategies employed in the text.

Identifying the audience: The audience refers to the group of people for whom the text is intended. This could be a specific demographic, such as young adults or professionals in a particular field, or a broader general audience. Understanding the intended audience helps to determine the tone, language, and arguments used in the text.

Clarifying the purpose: Every piece of writing has a purpose, and analyzing the rhetorical situation involves determining what that purpose is. The purpose could be to inform, to persuade, to entertain, or a combination of these. By identifying the underlying purpose, one can better understand the rhetorical choices made by the author.

Evaluating the speaker: The speaker, or author, of a text plays a significant role in shaping its rhetorical elements. Analyzing the rhetorical situation involves considering the credibility, expertise, and biases of the speaker. By evaluating the speaker, one can assess their authority and understand how it impacts the persuasive power of the text.

Examining the context: Context refers to the broader circumstances surrounding the creation of the text. This includes factors such as the historical, social, and cultural background in which the text was produced. Analyzing the context helps to uncover the motivations behind the text and provides a deeper understanding of its rhetorical strategies.

By analyzing the rhetorical situation, readers can gain a comprehensive understanding of the persuasive techniques used in a text. This knowledge allows for a more critical and informed interpretation, enabling readers to engage with the piece on a deeper level.

Identifying the rhetoric elements

When analyzing a piece of writing from a rhetorical perspective, it is essential to be able to identify the various elements of rhetoric that are present. These elements encompass the strategies and techniques used by the writer to persuade and influence the audience. By understanding and recognizing these elements, readers can gain a deeper appreciation for the art of rhetoric and the effectiveness of the writer’s message.

One key element to look for is the use of ethos, which refers to the credibility and ethical appeal of the writer. This can be observed through the author’s use of personal anecdotes, expert testimonials, or the establishment of their own expertise on the subject. The presence of ethos can lend credibility to the writer’s argument and make the audience more likely to trust their perspective.

Another important rhetorical element to consider is pathos, which refers to the emotional appeal of the writing. This can be achieved through the use of vivid language, anecdotes that tug at the reader’s heartstrings, or appeals to their values and emotions. By appealing to the reader’s emotions, the writer can evoke empathy and create a lasting impact on the audience.

Additionally, the use of logos, or logical appeal, is another element to be aware of. This can be observed through the writer’s use of evidence, reasoning, and logical arguments to support their claims. By presenting a well-reasoned and logical argument, the writer can convince the audience of the validity of their perspective and sway their opinions.

Furthermore, the consideration of tone is crucial when identifying rhetoric elements. Tone refers to the author’s attitude and approach towards the subject matter and the audience. By analyzing the tone of the writing, readers can gain insight into the writer’s intentions and how they are attempting to persuade the audience.

Finally, an important rhetorical element is the use of rhetorical devices such as repetition, rhetorical questions, parallelism, and figurative language. These devices can add emphasis, create a memorable impact, and enhance the overall persuasive effect of the writing. Recognizing these devices allows readers to appreciate the skill and craftsmanship employed by the writer.

In summary, identifying the rhetoric elements within a piece of writing involves recognizing the use of ethos, pathos, logos, tone, and rhetorical devices. By analyzing these elements, readers can gain a deeper understanding of the writer’s persuasive techniques and the effectiveness of their argument. Being able to identify these elements is essential in appreciating the art of rhetoric and becoming a more critical and discerning reader.

Developing a thesis statement

Creating a strong and effective thesis statement is a crucial step in writing a successful essay. It serves as the foundation for your entire argument and guides the reader’s understanding of your main points. In this section, we will discuss the process of developing a thesis statement that encapsulates the central idea of your essay.

When crafting a thesis statement, it is essential to clearly articulate the main argument or claim you will be making in your essay. This statement should be concise, specific, and thought-provoking, setting the tone for the rest of your paper. The thesis should also be debatable, meaning there should be room for disagreement and a potential counter-argument.

To develop a strong thesis statement, start by identifying your topic or subject matter. What is the main focus of your essay? Once you have a clear understanding of your subject, think about the main point or argument you want to make. Consider the evidence and arguments you will present throughout your essay to support this main point.

Next, condense your main argument into a single, clear sentence. This thesis statement should be direct and assertive, expressing your overall stance on the topic. Avoid vague and general statements that lack specificity. Instead, aim for a thesis that is concise and impactful.

Additionally, your thesis statement should be compelling and engaging. It should grab the reader’s attention and make them interested in reading further. Consider incorporating strong language, rhetorical devices, or compelling evidence to make your thesis statement more persuasive and memorable.

Finally, it is important to revisit and revise your thesis statement as you progress in your essay writing process. As you gather more information and refine your arguments, your thesis statement may evolve or change altogether. Be open to reevaluating and adapting your thesis statement to best reflect the content and direction of your essay.

In conclusion, developing a well-crafted thesis statement is a vital component of writing a rhetorical essay. It serves as the foundation for your argument and sets the tone for the rest of your paper. By following these steps and continually revisiting and refining your thesis statement, you will create a strong and impactful essay.

Organizing your essay outline

Structuring your essay is a crucial step in the writing process, as it helps to ensure clarity and cohesiveness in your argument. In this section, we will explore effective strategies for organizing your essay outline, enabling you to present your rhetorical analysis in a logical and persuasive manner.

Begin by identifying the key elements of the text you will be analyzing. Look for the main thesis or argument, as well as any supporting evidence or rhetorical devices employed by the author. Once you have a clear understanding of these elements, you can start crafting your essay outline.

A strong introduction is essential to grab the reader’s attention and provide context for your analysis. Use a compelling opening statement or anecdote to engage the audience, and briefly outline the main points you will cover in your essay. Remember to include a clear thesis statement that articulates your overall interpretation of the text.

Next, divide the body of your essay into distinct sections, each focusing on a specific rhetorical device or strategy used by the author. Consider organizing your analysis chronologically, examining how the author introduces and develops their argument over the course of the text. Alternatively, you can organize your essay thematically, grouping together examples and evidence that support specific ideas or themes.

Within each section, provide a clear topic sentence that introduces the rhetorical device you will be discussing. Follow this with detailed analysis and examples, using quotes from the text to support your points. Be sure to explain how each rhetorical device contributes to the overall effectiveness of the author’s argument.

Finally, conclude your essay by summarizing your main points and offering a final analysis of the text. Restate your thesis in a fresh way, and consider the broader implications of the author’s rhetorical choices. What message or impact do they have on the audience? What can we learn from the author’s techniques? End your essay with a thought-provoking statement or question that encourages further reflection.

By organizing your essay outline in a clear and logical manner, you can effectively convey your analysis and persuade your audience of your interpretation. Remember to revise and refine your outline as you go, ensuring that each section flows seamlessly into the next. With a well-structured essay outline, you will be well-equipped to write a compelling rhetorical analysis.

Using effective rhetorical strategies

Mastering the art of persuasive writing involves implementing a variety of powerful rhetorical strategies that can captivate your audience and convey your message with clarity and impact. By skillfully using these strategies, you can enhance the effectiveness of your writing and persuade your readers to see things from your perspective.

Rhetorical strategies are techniques used to persuade or influence an audience. They involve the skillful use of language, structure, and appeals to emotions, logic, and ethics. These strategies can be used in various forms of writing, including speeches, essays, and advertisements, to effectively communicate your message and convince your audience of your viewpoint.

One effective rhetorical strategy is the use of rhetorical questions. By asking thought-provoking questions, you can engage your audience and encourage them to consider your ideas. Rhetorical questions are not meant to be answered, but rather to stimulate reflection and provoke thinking.

Another powerful strategy is the use of logical appeal, also known as logos. This involves presenting a logical argument supported by evidence, facts, and reasoning. By employing logical appeal, you can convince your audience through sound and rational arguments that are difficult to dispute.

Emotional appeal, or pathos, is another strategy that can be highly effective in persuading your audience. By appealing to their emotions, you can evoke empathy, sympathy, or even anger, motivating them to take action or change their viewpoint. Personal anecdotes, vivid imagery, and touching stories are all effective tools in creating emotional appeal.

The use of ethical appeal, or ethos, is also crucial in persuasive writing. It involves establishing credibility and trust with your audience by presenting yourself as knowledgeable, reliable, and trustworthy. By demonstrating your expertise and integrity, you can gain the confidence of your readers and make your argument more convincing.

By utilizing these effective rhetorical strategies, you can effectively communicate your ideas and persuade your readers to engage with and accept your message. Remember to use these strategies strategically and analytically assess their effectiveness for each specific rhetorical situation.

Revising and editing your essay

Once you have completed the initial draft of your rhetorical analysis, it is crucial to revise and edit your essay to ensure clarity and coherence in your arguments. This stage of the writing process involves reviewing your work to identify any areas that require improvement or further development.

During the revision process, focus on examining the overall structure and flow of your essay. Consider whether your introduction effectively captures the reader’s attention and provides a clear thesis statement that sets the tone for the rest of the essay. Additionally, evaluate the development of your arguments in each paragraph and the effectiveness of your transitions between ideas.

When revising, pay close attention to the clarity and precision of your language. Eliminate any unnecessary jargon or technical terms that may confuse your audience. Instead, strive for clear and concise language that is accessible to a wide range of readers. Make sure your arguments are supported by evidence and examples, and that your analysis is thorough and well-reasoned.

Editing is an essential step in the writing process that involves checking for grammatical errors, typos, and inconsistencies in your essay. Carefully proofread your work for spelling and punctuation mistakes, and ensure that your writing adheres to the appropriate style guide. It can be helpful to read your essay aloud or have someone else review it to catch any errors that may have been overlooked.

Lastly, consider the overall effectiveness of your rhetorical analysis. Reflect on whether your essay successfully persuades your audience and achieves its intended purpose. Consider seeking feedback from others to gain different perspectives and to further improve your essay.

By revising and editing your essay, you can refine your arguments, improve the clarity of your language, and enhance the overall impact of your rhetorical analysis.

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• How to write a rhetorical analysis | Key concepts & examples

How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis | Key Concepts & Examples

Published on August 28, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

A rhetorical analysis is a type of essay  that looks at a text in terms of rhetoric. This means it is less concerned with what the author is saying than with how they say it: their goals, techniques, and appeals to the audience.

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Table of contents

Key concepts in rhetoric, analyzing the text, introducing your rhetorical analysis, the body: doing the analysis, concluding a rhetorical analysis, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about rhetorical analysis.

Rhetoric, the art of effective speaking and writing, is a subject that trains you to look at texts, arguments and speeches in terms of how they are designed to persuade the audience. This section introduces a few of the key concepts of this field.

Appeals: Logos, ethos, pathos

Appeals are how the author convinces their audience. Three central appeals are discussed in rhetoric, established by the philosopher Aristotle and sometimes called the rhetorical triangle: logos, ethos, and pathos.

Logos , or the logical appeal, refers to the use of reasoned argument to persuade. This is the dominant approach in academic writing , where arguments are built up using reasoning and evidence.

Ethos , or the ethical appeal, involves the author presenting themselves as an authority on their subject. For example, someone making a moral argument might highlight their own morally admirable behavior; someone speaking about a technical subject might present themselves as an expert by mentioning their qualifications.

Pathos , or the pathetic appeal, evokes the audience’s emotions. This might involve speaking in a passionate way, employing vivid imagery, or trying to provoke anger, sympathy, or any other emotional response in the audience.

These three appeals are all treated as integral parts of rhetoric, and a given author may combine all three of them to convince their audience.

Text and context

In rhetoric, a text is not necessarily a piece of writing (though it may be this). A text is whatever piece of communication you are analyzing. This could be, for example, a speech, an advertisement, or a satirical image.

In these cases, your analysis would focus on more than just language—you might look at visual or sonic elements of the text too.

The context is everything surrounding the text: Who is the author (or speaker, designer, etc.)? Who is their (intended or actual) audience? When and where was the text produced, and for what purpose?

Looking at the context can help to inform your rhetorical analysis. For example, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech has universal power, but the context of the civil rights movement is an important part of understanding why.

Claims, supports, and warrants

A piece of rhetoric is always making some sort of argument, whether it’s a very clearly defined and logical one (e.g. in a philosophy essay) or one that the reader has to infer (e.g. in a satirical article). These arguments are built up with claims, supports, and warrants.

A claim is the fact or idea the author wants to convince the reader of. An argument might center on a single claim, or be built up out of many. Claims are usually explicitly stated, but they may also just be implied in some kinds of text.

The author uses supports to back up each claim they make. These might range from hard evidence to emotional appeals—anything that is used to convince the reader to accept a claim.

The warrant is the logic or assumption that connects a support with a claim. Outside of quite formal argumentation, the warrant is often unstated—the author assumes their audience will understand the connection without it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still explore the implicit warrant in these cases.

For example, look at the following statement:

We can see a claim and a support here, but the warrant is implicit. Here, the warrant is the assumption that more likeable candidates would have inspired greater turnout. We might be more or less convinced by the argument depending on whether we think this is a fair assumption.

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Rhetorical analysis isn’t a matter of choosing concepts in advance and applying them to a text. Instead, it starts with looking at the text in detail and asking the appropriate questions about how it works:

• What is the author’s purpose?
• Do they focus closely on their key claims, or do they discuss various topics?
• What tone do they take—angry or sympathetic? Personal or authoritative? Formal or informal?
• Who seems to be the intended audience? Is this audience likely to be successfully reached and convinced?
• What kinds of evidence are presented?

By asking these questions, you’ll discover the various rhetorical devices the text uses. Don’t feel that you have to cram in every rhetorical term you know—focus on those that are most important to the text.

The following sections show how to write the different parts of a rhetorical analysis.

Like all essays, a rhetorical analysis begins with an introduction . The introduction tells readers what text you’ll be discussing, provides relevant background information, and presents your thesis statement .

Hover over different parts of the example below to see how an introduction works.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech is widely regarded as one of the most important pieces of oratory in American history. Delivered in 1963 to thousands of civil rights activists outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the speech has come to symbolize the spirit of the civil rights movement and even to function as a major part of the American national myth. This rhetorical analysis argues that King’s assumption of the prophetic voice, amplified by the historic size of his audience, creates a powerful sense of ethos that has retained its inspirational power over the years.

The body of your rhetorical analysis is where you’ll tackle the text directly. It’s often divided into three paragraphs, although it may be more in a longer essay.

Each paragraph should focus on a different element of the text, and they should all contribute to your overall argument for your thesis statement.

Hover over the example to explore how a typical body paragraph is constructed.

King’s speech is infused with prophetic language throughout. Even before the famous “dream” part of the speech, King’s language consistently strikes a prophetic tone. He refers to the Lincoln Memorial as a “hallowed spot” and speaks of rising “from the dark and desolate valley of segregation” to “make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” The assumption of this prophetic voice constitutes the text’s strongest ethical appeal; after linking himself with political figures like Lincoln and the Founding Fathers, King’s ethos adopts a distinctly religious tone, recalling Biblical prophets and preachers of change from across history. This adds significant force to his words; standing before an audience of hundreds of thousands, he states not just what the future should be, but what it will be: “The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.” This warning is almost apocalyptic in tone, though it concludes with the positive image of the “bright day of justice.” The power of King’s rhetoric thus stems not only from the pathos of his vision of a brighter future, but from the ethos of the prophetic voice he adopts in expressing this vision.

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The conclusion of a rhetorical analysis wraps up the essay by restating the main argument and showing how it has been developed by your analysis. It may also try to link the text, and your analysis of it, with broader concerns.

Explore the example below to get a sense of the conclusion.

It is clear from this analysis that the effectiveness of King’s rhetoric stems less from the pathetic appeal of his utopian “dream” than it does from the ethos he carefully constructs to give force to his statements. By framing contemporary upheavals as part of a prophecy whose fulfillment will result in the better future he imagines, King ensures not only the effectiveness of his words in the moment but their continuing resonance today. Even if we have not yet achieved King’s dream, we cannot deny the role his words played in setting us on the path toward it.

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The goal of a rhetorical analysis is to explain the effect a piece of writing or oratory has on its audience, how successful it is, and the devices and appeals it uses to achieve its goals.

Unlike a standard argumentative essay , it’s less about taking a position on the arguments presented, and more about exploring how they are constructed.

The term “text” in a rhetorical analysis essay refers to whatever object you’re analyzing. It’s frequently a piece of writing or a speech, but it doesn’t have to be. For example, you could also treat an advertisement or political cartoon as a text.

Logos appeals to the audience’s reason, building up logical arguments . Ethos appeals to the speaker’s status or authority, making the audience more likely to trust them. Pathos appeals to the emotions, trying to make the audience feel angry or sympathetic, for example.

Collectively, these three appeals are sometimes called the rhetorical triangle . They are central to rhetorical analysis , though a piece of rhetoric might not necessarily use all of them.

In rhetorical analysis , a claim is something the author wants the audience to believe. A support is the evidence or appeal they use to convince the reader to believe the claim. A warrant is the (often implicit) assumption that links the support with the claim.

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How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis Essay–Examples & Template

What is a Rhetorical Analysis Essay?

A rhetorical analysis essay is, as the name suggests, an analysis of someone else’s writing (or speech, or advert, or even cartoon) and how they use not only words but also rhetorical techniques to influence their audience in a certain way. A rhetorical analysis is less interested in what the author is saying and more in how they present it, what effect this has on their readers, whether they achieve their goals, and what approach they use to get there. 

Its structure is similar to that of most essays: An Introduction presents your thesis, a Body analyzes the text you have chosen, breaks it down into sections and explains how arguments have been constructed and how each part persuades, informs, or entertains the reader, and a Conclusion section sums up your evaluation. 

Note that your personal opinion on the matter is not relevant for your analysis and that you don’t state anywhere in your essay whether you agree or disagree with the stance the author takes.

In the following, we will define the key rhetorical concepts you need to write a good rhetorical analysis and give you some practical tips on where to start.

Key Rhetorical Concepts

Your goal when writing a rhetorical analysis is to think about and then carefully describe how the author has designed their text so that it has the intended effect on their audience. To do that, you need to consider a number of key rhetorical strategies: Rhetorical appeals (“Ethos”, “Logos”, and “Pathos”), context, as well as claims, supports, and warrants.

Ethos, Logos, and Pathos were introduced by Aristotle, way back in the 4th century BC, as the main ways in which language can be used to persuade an audience. They still represent the basis of any rhetorical analysis and are often referred to as the “rhetorical triangle”. 

These and other rhetorical techniques can all be combined to create the intended effect, and your job as the one analyzing a text is to break the writer’s arguments down and identify the concepts they are based on.

Rhetorical Appeals

Rhetorical appeal #1: ethos.

Ethos refers to the reputation or authority of the writer regarding the topic of their essay or speech and to how they use this to appeal to their audience. Just like we are more likely to buy a product from a brand or vendor we have confidence in than one we don’t know or have reason to distrust, Ethos-driven texts or speeches rely on the reputation of the author to persuade the reader or listener. When you analyze an essay, you should therefore look at how the writer establishes Ethos through rhetorical devices.

Does the author present themselves as an authority on their subject? If so, how? 

Do they highlight how impeccable their own behavior is to make a moral argument? 

Do they present themselves as an expert by listing their qualifications or experience to convince the reader of their opinion on something?

Rhetorical appeal #2: Pathos

The purpose of Pathos-driven rhetoric is to appeal to the reader’s emotions. A common example of pathos as a rhetorical means is adverts by charities that try to make you donate money to a “good cause”. To evoke the intended emotions in the reader, an author may use passionate language, tell personal stories, and employ vivid imagery so that the reader can imagine themselves in a certain situation and feel empathy with or anger towards others.

Rhetorical appeal #3: Logos

Logos, the “logical” appeal, uses reason to persuade. Reason and logic, supported by data, evidence, clearly defined methodology, and well-constructed arguments, are what most academic writing is based on. Emotions, those of the researcher/writer as well as those of the reader, should stay out of such academic texts, as should anyone’s reputation, beliefs, or personal opinions. 

Text and Context

To analyze a piece of writing, a speech, an advertisement, or even a satirical drawing, you need to look beyond the piece of communication and take the context in which it was created and/or published into account. 

Who is the person who wrote the text/drew the cartoon/designed the ad..? What audience are they trying to reach? Where was the piece published and what was happening there around that time? 

A political speech, for example, can be powerful even when read decades later, but the historical context surrounding it is an important aspect of the effect it was intended to have. 

Claims, Supports, and Warrants

To make any kind of argument, a writer needs to put forward specific claims, support them with data or evidence or even a moral or emotional appeal, and connect the dots logically so that the reader can follow along and agree with the points made.

The connections between statements, so-called “warrants”, follow logical reasoning but are not always clearly stated—the author simply assumes the reader understands the underlying logic, whether they present it “explicitly” or “implicitly”. Implicit warrants are commonly used in advertisements where seemingly happy people use certain products, wear certain clothes, accessories, or perfumes, or live certain lifestyles – with the connotation that, first, the product/perfume/lifestyle is what makes that person happy and, second, the reader wants to be as happy as the person in the ad. Some warrants are never clearly stated, and your job when writing a rhetorical analysis essay is therefore to identify them and bring them to light, to evaluate their validity, their effect on the reader, and the use of such means by the writer/creator. 

What are the Five Rhetorical Situations?

A “rhetorical situation” refers to the circumstance behind a text or other piece of communication that arises from a given context. It explains why a rhetorical piece was created, what its purpose is, and how it was constructed to achieve its aims.

Rhetorical situations can be classified into the following five categories:

Asking such questions when you analyze a text will help you identify all the aspects that play a role in the effect it has on its audience, and will allow you to evaluate whether it achieved its aims or where it may have failed to do so.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Outline

Analyzing someone else’s work can seem like a big task, but as with every assignment or writing endeavor, you can break it down into smaller, well-defined steps that give you a practical structure to follow. 

To give you an example of how the different parts of your text may look when it’s finished, we will provide you with some excerpts from this rhetorical analysis essay example (which even includes helpful comments) published on the Online Writing Lab website of Excelsior University in Albany, NY. The text that this essay analyzes is this article on why one should or shouldn’t buy an Ipad. If you want more examples so that you can build your own rhetorical analysis template, have a look at this essay on Nabokov’s Lolita and the one provided here about the “Shitty First Drafts” chapter of Anne Lamott’s writing instruction book “Bird by Bird”.

Analyzing the Text

When writing a rhetorical analysis, you don’t choose the concepts or key points you think are relevant or want to address. Rather, you carefully read the text several times asking yourself questions like those listed in the last section on rhetorical situations to identify how the text “works” and how it was written to achieve that effect.

Start with focusing on the author : What do you think was their purpose for writing the text? Do they make one principal claim and then elaborate on that? Or do they discuss different topics? 

Then look at what audience they are talking to: Do they want to make a group of people take some action? Vote for someone? Donate money to a good cause? Who are these people? Is the text reaching this specific audience? Why or why not?

What tone is the author using to address their audience? Are they trying to evoke sympathy? Stir up anger? Are they writing from a personal perspective? Are they painting themselves as an authority on the topic? Are they using academic or informal language?

How does the author support their claims ? What kind of evidence are they presenting? Are they providing explicit or implicit warrants? Are these warrants valid or problematic? Is the provided evidence convincing?  

Asking yourself such questions will help you identify what rhetorical devices a text uses and how well they are put together to achieve a certain aim. Remember, your own opinion and whether you agree with the author are not the point of a rhetorical analysis essay – your task is simply to take the text apart and evaluate it.

If you are still confused about how to write a rhetorical analysis essay, just follow the steps outlined below to write the different parts of your rhetorical analysis: As every other essay, it consists of an Introduction , a Body (the actual analysis), and a Conclusion .

Rhetorical Analysis Introduction

The Introduction section briefly presents the topic of the essay you are analyzing, the author, their main claims, a short summary of the work by you, and your thesis statement . 

Tell the reader what the text you are going to analyze represents (e.g., historically) or why it is relevant (e.g., because it has become some kind of reference for how something is done). Describe what the author claims, asserts, or implies and what techniques they use to make their argument and persuade their audience. Finish off with your thesis statement that prepares the reader for what you are going to present in the next section – do you think that the author’s assumptions/claims/arguments were presented in a logical/appealing/powerful way and reached their audience as intended?

Have a look at an excerpt from the sample essay linked above to see what a rhetorical analysis introduction can look like. See how it introduces the author and article , the context in which it originally appeared , the main claims the author makes , and how this first paragraph ends in a clear thesis statement that the essay will then elaborate on in the following Body section:

Cory Doctorow ’s article on BoingBoing is an older review of the iPad , one of Apple’s most famous products. At the time of this article, however, the iPad was simply the latest Apple product to hit the market and was not yet so popular. Doctorow’s entire career has been entrenched in and around technology. He got his start as a CD-ROM programmer and is now a successful blogger and author. He is currently the co-editor of the BoingBoing blog on which this article was posted. One of his main points in this article comes from Doctorow’s passionate advocacy of free digital media sharing. He argues that the iPad is just another way for established technology companies to control our technological freedom and creativity . In “ Why I Won’t Buy an iPad (and Think You Shouldn’t, Either) ” published on Boing Boing in April of 2010, Cory Doctorow successfully uses his experience with technology, facts about the company Apple, and appeals to consumer needs to convince potential iPad buyers that Apple and its products, specifically the iPad, limit the digital rights of those who use them by controlling and mainstreaming the content that can be used and created on the device . 

Doing the Rhetorical Analysis

The main part of your analysis is the Body , where you dissect the text in detail. Explain what methods the author uses to inform, entertain, and/or persuade the audience. Use Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle and the other key concepts we introduced above. Use quotations from the essay to demonstrate what you mean. Work out why the writer used a certain approach and evaluate (and again, demonstrate using the text itself) how successful they were. Evaluate the effect of each rhetorical technique you identify on the audience and judge whether the effect is in line with the author’s intentions.

To make it easy for the reader to follow your thought process, divide this part of your essay into paragraphs that each focus on one strategy or one concept , and make sure they are all necessary and contribute to the development of your argument(s).

One paragraph of this section of your essay could, for example, look like this:

One example of Doctorow’s position is his comparison of Apple’s iStore to Wal-Mart. This is an appeal to the consumer’s logic—or an appeal to logos. Doctorow wants the reader to take his comparison and consider how an all-powerful corporation like the iStore will affect them. An iPad will only allow for apps and programs purchased through the iStore to be run on it; therefore, a customer must not only purchase an iPad but also any programs he or she wishes to use. Customers cannot create their own programs or modify the hardware in any way. 

As you can see, the author of this sample essay identifies and then explains to the reader how Doctorow uses the concept of Logos to appeal to his readers – not just by pointing out that he does it but by dissecting how it is done.

Rhetorical Analysis Conclusion

The conclusion section of your analysis should restate your main arguments and emphasize once more whether you think the author achieved their goal. Note that this is not the place to introduce new information—only rely on the points you have discussed in the body of your essay. End with a statement that sums up the impact the text has on its audience and maybe society as a whole:

Overall, Doctorow makes a good argument about why there are potentially many better things to drop a great deal of money on instead of the iPad. He gives some valuable information and facts that consumers should take into consideration before going out to purchase the new device. He clearly uses rhetorical tools to help make his case, and, overall, he is effective as a writer, even if, ultimately, he was ineffective in convincing the world not to buy an iPad . 

Frequently Asked Questions about Rhetorical Analysis Essays 

What is a rhetorical analysis essay.

A rhetorical analysis dissects a text or another piece of communication to work out and explain how it impacts its audience, how successfully it achieves its aims, and what rhetorical devices it uses to do that. 

While argumentative essays usually take a stance on a certain topic and argue for it, a rhetorical analysis identifies how someone else constructs their arguments and supports their claims.

What is the correct rhetorical analysis essay format?

Like most other essays, a rhetorical analysis contains an Introduction that presents the thesis statement, a Body that analyzes the piece of communication, explains how arguments have been constructed, and illustrates how each part persuades, informs, or entertains the reader, and a Conclusion section that summarizes the results of the analysis. 

What is the “rhetorical triangle”?

The rhetorical triangle was introduced by Aristotle as the main ways in which language can be used to persuade an audience: Logos appeals to the audience’s reason, Ethos to the writer’s status or authority, and Pathos to the reader’s emotions. Logos, Ethos, and Pathos can all be combined to create the intended effect, and your job as the one analyzing a text is to break the writer’s arguments down and identify what specific concepts each is based on.

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What Is a Rhetorical Analysis and How to Write a Great One

By Helly Douglas

Do you have to write a rhetorical analysis essay? Fear not! We’re here to explain exactly what rhetorical analysis means, how you should structure your essay, and give you some essential “dos and don’ts.”

What is a Rhetorical Analysis Essay?

How do you write a rhetorical analysis, what are the three rhetorical strategies, what are the five rhetorical situations, how to plan a rhetorical analysis essay, creating a rhetorical analysis essay, examples of great rhetorical analysis essays, final thoughts.

A rhetorical analysis essay studies how writers and speakers have used words to influence their audience. Think less about the words the author has used and more about the techniques they employ, their goals, and the effect this has on the audience.

In your analysis essay, you break a piece of text (including cartoons, adverts, and speeches) into sections and explain how each part works to persuade, inform, or entertain. You’ll explore the effectiveness of the techniques used, how the argument has been constructed, and give examples from the text.

A strong rhetorical analysis evaluates a text rather than just describes the techniques used. You don’t include whether you personally agree or disagree with the argument.

Structure a rhetorical analysis in the same way as most other types of academic essays . You’ll have an introduction to present your thesis, a main body where you analyze the text, which then leads to a conclusion.

Think about how the writer (also known as a rhetor) considers the situation that frames their communication:

• Topic: the overall purpose of the rhetoric
• Audience: this includes primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences
• Purpose: there are often more than one to consider
• Context and culture: the wider situation within which the rhetoric is placed

Back in the 4th century BC, Aristotle was talking about how language can be used as a means of persuasion. He described three principal forms —Ethos, Logos, and Pathos—often referred to as the Rhetorical Triangle . These persuasive techniques are still used today.

Rhetorical Strategy 1: Ethos

Are you more likely to buy a car from an established company that’s been an important part of your community for 50 years, or someone new who just started their business?

Reputation matters. Ethos explores how the character, disposition, and fundamental values of the author create appeal, along with their expertise and knowledge in the subject area.

Aristotle breaks ethos down into three further categories:

• Phronesis: skills and practical wisdom
• Arete: virtue
• Eunoia: goodwill towards the audience

Ethos-driven speeches and text rely on the reputation of the author. In your analysis, you can look at how the writer establishes ethos through both direct and indirect means.

Rhetorical Strategy 2: Pathos

Pathos-driven rhetoric hooks into our emotions. You’ll often see it used in advertisements, particularly by charities wanting you to donate money towards an appeal.

Common use of pathos includes:

• Vivid description so the reader can imagine themselves in the situation
• Personal stories to create feelings of empathy
• Emotional vocabulary that evokes a response

By using pathos to make the audience feel a particular emotion, the author can persuade them that the argument they’re making is compelling.

Rhetorical Strategy 3: Logos

Logos uses logic or reason. It’s commonly used in academic writing when arguments are created using evidence and reasoning rather than an emotional response. It’s constructed in a step-by-step approach that builds methodically to create a powerful effect upon the reader.

Rhetoric can use any one of these three techniques, but effective arguments often appeal to all three elements.

The rhetorical situation explains the circumstances behind and around a piece of rhetoric. It helps you think about why a text exists, its purpose, and how it’s carried out.

The rhetorical situations are:

• 1) Purpose: Why is this being written? (It could be trying to inform, persuade, instruct, or entertain.)
• 2) Audience: Which groups or individuals will read and take action (or have done so in the past)?
• 3) Genre: What type of writing is this?
• 4) Stance: What is the tone of the text? What position are they taking?
• 5) Media/Visuals: What means of communication are used?

Understanding and analyzing the rhetorical situation is essential for building a strong essay. Also think about any rhetoric restraints on the text, such as beliefs, attitudes, and traditions that could affect the author's decisions.

Before leaping into your essay, it’s worth taking time to explore the text at a deeper level and considering the rhetorical situations we looked at before. Throw away your assumptions and use these simple questions to help you unpick how and why the text is having an effect on the audience.

1: What is the Rhetorical Situation?

• Why is there a need or opportunity for persuasion?
• How do words and references help you identify the time and location?
• What are the rhetoric restraints?
• What historical occasions would lead to this text being created?

2: Who is the Author?

• How do they position themselves as an expert worth listening to?
• What is their ethos?
• Do they have a reputation that gives them authority?
• What is their intention?
• What values or customs do they have?

3: Who is it Written For?

• Who is the intended audience?
• How is this appealing to this particular audience?
• Who are the possible secondary and tertiary audiences?

4: What is the Central Idea?

• Can you summarize the key point of this rhetoric?
• What arguments are used?
• How has it developed a line of reasoning?

5: How is it Structured?

• What structure is used?
• How is the content arranged within the structure?

6: What Form is Used?

• Does this follow a specific literary genre?
• What type of style and tone is used, and why is this?
• Does the form used complement the content?
• What effect could this form have on the audience?

7: Is the Rhetoric Effective?

• Does the content fulfil the author’s intentions?
• Does the message effectively fit the audience, location, and time period?

Once you’ve fully explored the text, you’ll have a better understanding of the impact it’s having on the audience and feel more confident about writing your essay outline.

A great essay starts with an interesting topic. Choose carefully so you’re personally invested in the subject and familiar with it rather than just following trending topics. There are lots of great ideas on this blog post by My Perfect Words if you need some inspiration. Take some time to do background research to ensure your topic offers good analysis opportunities.

Remember to check the information given to you by your professor so you follow their preferred style guidelines. This outline example gives you a general idea of a format to follow, but there will likely be specific requests about layout and content in your course handbook. It’s always worth asking your institution if you’re unsure.

Make notes for each section of your essay before you write. This makes it easy for you to write a well-structured text that flows naturally to a conclusion. You will develop each note into a paragraph. Look at this example by College Essay for useful ideas about the structure.

1: Introduction

This is a short, informative section that shows you understand the purpose of the text. It tempts the reader to find out more by mentioning what will come in the main body of your essay.

• Name the author of the text and the title of their work followed by the date in parentheses
• Use a verb to describe what the author does, e.g. “implies,” “asserts,” or “claims”
• Briefly summarize the text in your own words
• Mention the persuasive techniques used by the rhetor and its effect

Create a thesis statement to come at the end of your introduction.

After your introduction, move on to your critical analysis. This is the principal part of your essay.

• Explain the methods used by the author to inform, entertain, and/or persuade the audience using Aristotle's rhetorical triangle
• Use quotations to prove the statements you make
• Explain why the writer used this approach and how successful it is
• Consider how it makes the audience feel and react

Make each strategy a new paragraph rather than cramming them together, and always use proper citations. Check back to your course handbook if you’re unsure which citation style is preferred.

3: Conclusion

Your conclusion should summarize the points you’ve made in the main body of your essay. While you will draw the points together, this is not the place to introduce new information you’ve not previously mentioned.

Use your last sentence to share a powerful concluding statement that talks about the impact the text has on the audience(s) and wider society. How have its strategies helped to shape history?

Before You Submit

Poor spelling and grammatical errors ruin a great essay. Use ProWritingAid to check through your finished essay before you submit. It will pick up all the minor errors you’ve missed and help you give your essay a final polish. Look at this useful ProWritingAid webinar for further ideas to help you significantly improve your essays. Sign up for a free trial today and start editing your essays!

You’ll find countless examples of rhetorical analysis online, but they range widely in quality. Your institution may have example essays they can share with you to show you exactly what they’re looking for.

The following links should give you a good starting point if you’re looking for ideas:

Pearson Canada has a range of good examples. Look at how embedded quotations are used to prove the points being made. The end questions help you unpick how successful each essay is.

Excelsior College has an excellent sample essay complete with useful comments highlighting the techniques used.

Brighton Online has a selection of interesting essays to look at. In this specific example, consider how wider reading has deepened the exploration of the text.

Writing a rhetorical analysis essay can seem daunting, but spending significant time deeply analyzing the text before you write will make it far more achievable and result in a better-quality essay overall.

It can take some time to write a good essay. Aim to complete it well before the deadline so you don’t feel rushed. Use ProWritingAid’s comprehensive checks to find any errors and make changes to improve readability. Then you’ll be ready to submit your finished essay, knowing it’s as good as you can possibly make it.

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Helly Douglas

Helly Douglas is a UK writer and teacher, specialising in education, children, and parenting. She loves making the complex seem simple through blogs, articles, and curriculum content. You can check out her work at hellydouglas.com or connect on Twitter @hellydouglas. When she’s not writing, you will find her in a classroom, being a mum or battling against the wilderness of her garden—the garden is winning!

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How to Write the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay (With Example)

November 27, 2023

Feeling intimidated by the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay? We’re here to help demystify. Whether you’re cramming for the AP Lang exam right now or planning to take the test down the road, we’ve got crucial rubric information, helpful tips, and an essay example to prepare you for the big day. This post will cover 1) What is the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay? 2) AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Rubric 3) AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis: Sample Prompt 4) AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay Example 5)AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay Example: Why It Works

What is the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay?

The AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay is one of three essays included in the written portion of the AP English Exam. The full AP English Exam is 3 hours and 15 minutes long, with the first 60 minutes dedicated to multiple-choice questions. Once you complete the multiple-choice section, you move on to three equally weighted essays that ask you to synthesize, analyze, and interpret texts and develop well-reasoned arguments. The three essays include:

Synthesis essay: You’ll review various pieces of evidence and then write an essay that synthesizes (aka combines and interprets) the evidence and presents a clear argument. Read our write up on How to Write the AP Lang Synthesis Essay here.

Argumentative essay: You’ll take a stance on a specific topic and argue your case.

Rhetorical essay: You’ll read a provided passage, then analyze the author’s rhetorical choices and develop an argument that explains why the author made those rhetorical choices.

AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Rubric

The AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay is graded on just 3 rubric categories: Thesis, Evidence and Commentary, and Sophistication . At a glance, the rubric categories may seem vague, but AP exam graders are actually looking for very particular things in each category. We’ll break it down with dos and don’ts for each rubric category:

Thesis (0-1 point)

There’s nothing nebulous when it comes to grading AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay thesis. You either have one or you don’t. Including a thesis gets you one point closer to a high score and leaving it out means you miss out on one crucial point. So, what makes a thesis that counts?

• Make sure your thesis argues something about the author’s rhetorical choices. Making an argument means taking a risk and offering your own interpretation of the provided text. This is an argument that someone else might disagree with.
• A good test to see if you have a thesis that makes an argument. In your head, add the phrase “I think that…” to the beginning of your thesis. If what follows doesn’t logically flow after that phrase (aka if what follows isn’t something you and only you think), it’s likely you’re not making an argument.
• Avoid a thesis that merely restates the prompt.
• Avoid a thesis that summarizes the text but does not make an argument.

Evidence and Commentary (0-4 points)

This rubric category is graded on a scale of 0-4 where 4 is the highest grade. Per the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis rubric, to get a 4, you’ll want to:

• Include lots of specific evidence from the text. There is no set golden number of quotes to include, but you’ll want to make sure you’re incorporating more than a couple pieces of evidence that support your argument about the author’s rhetorical choices.
• Make sure you include more than one type of evidence, too. Let’s say you’re working on your essay and have gathered examples of alliteration to include as supporting evidence. That’s just one type of rhetorical choice, and it’s hard to make a credible argument if you’re only looking at one type of evidence. To fix that issue, reread the text again looking for patterns in word choice and syntax, meaningful figurative language and imagery, literary devices, and other rhetorical choices, looking for additional types of evidence to support your argument.
• After you include evidence, offer your own interpretation and explain how this evidence proves the point you make in your thesis.
• Don’t summarize or speak generally about the author and the text. Everything you write must be backed up with evidence.
• Don’t let quotes speak for themselves. After every piece of evidence you include, make sure to explain your interpretation. Also, connect the evidence to your overarching argument.

Sophistication (0-1 point)

In this case, sophistication isn’t about how many fancy vocabulary words or how many semicolons you use. According to College Board , one point can be awarded to AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis essays that “demonstrate sophistication of thought and/or a complex understanding of the rhetorical situation” in any of these three ways:

• Explaining the significance or relevance of the writer’s rhetorical choices.
• Explaining the purpose or function of the passage’s complexities or tensions.
• Employing a style that is consistently vivid and persuasive.

Note that you don’t have to achieve all three to earn your sophistication point. A good way to think of this rubric category is to consider it a bonus point that you can earn for going above and beyond in depth of analysis or by writing an especially persuasive, clear, and well-structured essay. In order to earn this point, you’ll need to first do a good job with your thesis, evidence, and commentary.

• Focus on nailing an argumentative thesis and multiple types of evidence. Getting these fundamentals of your essay right will set you up for achieving depth of analysis.
• Explain how each piece of evidence connects to your thesis.
• Spend a minute outlining your essay before you begin to ensure your essay flows in a clear and cohesive way.
• Steer clear of generalizations about the author or text.
• Don’t include arguments you can’t prove with evidence from the text.
• Avoid complex sentences and fancy vocabulary words unless you use them often. Long, clunky sentences with imprecisely used words are hard to follow.

AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis: Sample Prompt

The sample prompt below is published online by College Board and is a real example from the 2021 AP Exam. The prompt provides background context, essay instructions, and the text you need to analyze. For sake of space, we’ve included the text as an image you can click to read. After the prompt, we provide a sample high scoring essay and then explain why this AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis essay example works.

Suggested time—40 minutes.

(This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.)

On February 27, 2013, while in office, former president Barack Obama delivered the following address dedicating the Rosa Parks statue in the National Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol building. Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist who was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Read the passage carefully. Write an essay that analyzes the rhetorical choices Obama makes to convey his message.

In your response you should do the following:

• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that analyzes the writer’s rhetorical choices.
• Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning.
• Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the rhetorical situation.
• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay Example

In his speech delivered in 2013 at the dedication of Rosa Park’s statue, President Barack Obama acknowledges everything that Parks’ activism made possible in the United States. Telling the story of Parks’ life and achievements, Obama highlights the fact that Parks was a regular person whose actions accomplished enormous change during the civil rights era. Through the use of diction that portrays Parks as quiet and demure, long lists that emphasize the extent of her impacts, and Biblical references, Obama suggests that all of us are capable of achieving greater good, just as Parks did.

Although it might be a surprising way to start to his dedication, Obama begins his speech by telling us who Parks was not: “Rosa Parks held no elected office. She possessed no fortune” he explains in lines 1-2. Later, when he tells the story of the bus driver who threatened to have Parks arrested when she refused to get off the bus, he explains that Parks “simply replied, ‘You may do that’” (lines 22-23). Right away, he establishes that Parks was a regular person who did not hold a seat of power. Her protest on the bus was not part of a larger plan, it was a simple response. By emphasizing that Parks was not powerful, wealthy, or loud spoken, he implies that Parks’ style of activism is an everyday practice that all of us can aspire to.

AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay Example (Continued)

Even though Obama portrays Parks as a demure person whose protest came “simply” and naturally, he shows the importance of her activism through long lists of ripple effects. When Parks challenged her arrest, Obama explains, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood with her and “so did thousands of Montgomery, Alabama commuters” (lines 27-28). They began a boycott that included “teachers and laborers, clergy and domestics, through rain and cold and sweltering heat, day after day, week after week, month after month, walking miles if they had to…” (lines 28-31). In this section of the speech, Obama’s sentences grow longer and he uses lists to show that Parks’ small action impacted and inspired many others to fight for change. Further, listing out how many days, weeks, and months the boycott lasted shows how Parks’ single act of protest sparked a much longer push for change.

To further illustrate Parks’ impact, Obama incorporates Biblical references that emphasize the importance of “that single moment on the bus” (lines 57-58). In lines 33-35, Obama explains that Parks and the other protestors are “driven by a solemn determination to affirm their God-given dignity” and he also compares their victory to the fall the “ancient walls of Jericho” (line 43). By of including these Biblical references, Obama suggests that Parks’ action on the bus did more than correct personal or political wrongs; it also corrected moral and spiritual wrongs. Although Parks had no political power or fortune, she was able to restore a moral balance in our world.

Toward the end of the speech, Obama states that change happens “not mainly through the exploits of the famous and the powerful, but through the countless acts of often anonymous courage and kindness” (lines 78-81). Through carefully chosen diction that portrays her as a quiet, regular person and through lists and Biblical references that highlight the huge impacts of her action, Obama illustrates exactly this point. He wants us to see that, just like Parks, the small and meek can change the world for the better.

AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay Example: Why It Works

We would give the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis essay above a score of 6 out of 6 because it fully satisfies the essay’s 3 rubric categories: Thesis, Evidence and Commentary, and Sophistication . Let’s break down what this student did:

The thesis of this essay appears in the last line of the first paragraph:

“ Through the use of diction that portrays Parks as quiet and demure, long lists that emphasize the extent of her impacts, and Biblical references, Obama suggests that all of us are capable of achieving greater good, just as Parks did .”

This student’s thesis works because they make a clear argument about Obama’s rhetorical choices. They 1) list the rhetorical choices that will be analyzed in the rest of the essay (the italicized text above) and 2) include an argument someone else might disagree with (the bolded text above).

Evidence and Commentary:

This student includes substantial evidence and commentary. Things they do right, per the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis rubric:

• They include lots of specific evidence from the text in the form of quotes.
• They incorporate 3 different types of evidence (diction, long lists, Biblical references).
• After including evidence, they offer an interpretation of what the evidence means and explain how the evidence contributes to their overarching argument (aka their thesis).

Sophistication

This essay achieves sophistication according to the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis essay rubric in a few key ways:

• This student provides an introduction that flows naturally into the topic their essay will discuss. Before they get to their thesis, they tell us that Obama portrays Parks as a “regular person” setting up their main argument: Obama wants all regular people to aspire to do good in the world just as Rosa Parks did.
• They organize evidence and commentary in a clear and cohesive way. Each body paragraph focuses on just one type of evidence.
• They explain how their evidence is significant. In the final sentence of each body paragraph, they draw a connection back to the overarching argument presented in the thesis.
• All their evidence supports the argument presented in their thesis. There is no extraneous evidence or misleading detail.
• They consider nuances in the text. Rather than taking the text at face value, they consider what Obama’s rhetorical choices imply and offer their own unique interpretation of those implications.
• In their final paragraph, they come full circle, reiterate their thesis, and explain what Obama’s rhetorical choices communicate to readers.
• Their sentences are clear and easy to read. There are no grammar errors or misused words.

AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay—More Resources

Looking for more tips to help your master your AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay? Brush up on 20 Rhetorical Devices High School Students Should Know and read our Tips for Improving Reading Comprehension . If you’re ready to start studying for another part of the AP English Exam, find more expert tips in our How to Write the AP Lang Synthesis blog post.

Considering what other AP classes to take? Read up on the Hardest AP Classes .

• High School Success

Christina Wood

Christina Wood holds a BA in Literature & Writing from UC San Diego, an MFA in Creative Writing from Washington University in St. Louis, and is currently a Doctoral Candidate in English at the University of Georgia, where she teaches creative writing and first-year composition courses. Christina has published fiction and nonfiction in numerous publications, including The Paris Review , McSweeney’s , Granta , Virginia Quarterly Review , The Sewanee Review , Mississippi Review , and Puerto del Sol , among others. Her story “The Astronaut” won the 2018 Shirley Jackson Award for short fiction and received a “Distinguished Stories” mention in the 2019 Best American Short Stories anthology.

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• Writing Tips

How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis Essay

• 3-minute read
• 22nd August 2023

A rhetorical analysis essay is a type of academic writing that analyzes how authors use language, persuasion techniques , and other rhetorical strategies to communicate with their audience. In this post, we’ll review how to write a rhetorical analysis essay, including:

• Understanding the assignment guidelines
• Introducing your essay topic
• Examining the rhetorical strategies
• Summarizing your main points

Keep reading for a step-by-step guide to rhetorical analysis.

What Is a Rhetorical Strategy?

A rhetorical strategy is a deliberate approach or technique a writer uses to convey a message and/or persuade the audience. A rhetorical strategy typically involves using language, sentence structure, and tone/style to influence the audience to think a certain way or understand a specific point of view. Rhetorical strategies are especially common in advertisements, speeches, and political writing, but you can also find them in many other types of literature.

1.   Understanding the Assignment Guidelines

Before you begin your rhetorical analysis essay, make sure you understand the assignment and guidelines. Typically, when writing a rhetorical analysis, you should approach the text objectively, focusing on the techniques the author uses rather than expressing your own opinions about the topic or summarizing the content. Thus, it’s essential to discuss the rhetorical methods used and then back up your analysis with evidence and quotations from the text.

2.   Introducing Your Essay Topic

Introduce your essay by providing some context about the text you’re analyzing. Give a brief overview of the author, intended audience, and purpose of the writing. You should also clearly state your thesis , which is your main point or argument about how and why the author uses rhetorical strategies. Try to avoid going into detail on any points or diving into specific examples – the introduction should be concise, and you’ll be providing a much more in-depth analysis later in the text.

3.   Examining the Rhetorical Strategies

In the body paragraphs, analyze the rhetorical strategies the author uses. Here are some common rhetorical strategies to include in your discussion:

●  Ethos : Establishing trust between the writer and the audience by appealing to credibility and ethics

●  Pathos : Appealing to the audience’s emotions and values

●  Logos : Employing logic, reason, and evidence to appeal to the reader

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●  Diction : Deliberately choosing specific language and vocabulary

●  Syntax : Structuring and arranging sentences in certain ways

●  Tone : Conveying attitude or mood in certain ways

●  Literary Devices : Using metaphors, similes, analogies , repetition, etc.

Keep in mind that for a rhetorical analysis essay, you’re not usually required to find examples of all of the above rhetorical strategies. But for each one you do analyze, consider how it contributes to the author’s purpose, how it influences the audience, and what emotions or thoughts it could evoke in the reader.

4.   Summarizing Your Main Points

In your conclusion , sum up the main points of your analysis and restate your thesis. Without introducing any new points (such as topics or ideas you haven’t already covered in the main body of your essay), summarize the overall impact that the author’s rhetorical strategies likely had on their intended audience.

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How to write a rhetorical analysis

What is a rhetorical analysis?

What are the key concepts of a rhetorical analysis, rhetorical situation, claims, supports, and warrants.

• Step 1: Plan and prepare
• Step 2: Write your introduction
• Step 3: Write the body
• Step 4: Write your conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions about rhetorical analysis

Related articles.

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion and aims to study writers’ or speakers' techniques to inform, persuade, or motivate their audience. Thus, a rhetorical analysis aims to explore the goals and motivations of an author, the techniques they’ve used to reach their audience, and how successful these techniques were.

This will generally involve analyzing a specific text and considering the following aspects to connect the rhetorical situation to the text:

• Does the author successfully support the thesis or claims made in the text? Here, you’ll analyze whether the author holds to their argument consistently throughout the text or whether they wander off-topic at some point.
• Does the author use evidence effectively considering the text’s intended audience? Here, you’ll consider the evidence used by the author to support their claims and whether the evidence resonates with the intended audience.
• What rhetorical strategies the author uses to achieve their goals. Here, you’ll consider the word choices by the author and whether these word choices align with their agenda for the text.
• The tone of the piece. Here, you’ll consider the tone used by the author in writing the piece by looking at specific words and aspects that set the tone.
• Whether the author is objective or trying to convince the audience of a particular viewpoint. When it comes to objectivity, you’ll consider whether the author is objective or holds a particular viewpoint they want to convince the audience of. If they are, you’ll also consider whether their persuasion interferes with how the text is read and understood.
• Does the author correctly identify the intended audience? It’s important to consider whether the author correctly writes the text for the intended audience and what assumptions the author makes about the audience.
• Does the text make sense? Here, you’ll consider whether the author effectively reasons, based on the evidence, to arrive at the text’s conclusion.
• Does the author try to appeal to the audience’s emotions? You’ll need to consider whether the author uses any words, ideas, or techniques to appeal to the audience’s emotions.
• Can the author be believed? Finally, you’ll consider whether the audience will accept the arguments and ideas of the author and why.

Summing up, unlike summaries that focus on what an author said, a rhetorical analysis focuses on how it’s said, and it doesn’t rely on an analysis of whether the author was right or wrong but rather how they made their case to arrive at their conclusions.

Although rhetorical analysis is most used by academics as part of scholarly work, it can be used to analyze any text including speeches, novels, television shows or films, advertisements, or cartoons.

Now that we’ve seen what rhetorical analysis is, let’s consider some of its key concepts .

Any rhetorical analysis starts with the rhetorical situation which identifies the relationships between the different elements of the text. These elements include the audience, author or writer, the author’s purpose, the delivery method or medium, and the content:

• Audience: The audience is simply the readers of a specific piece of text or content or printed material. For speeches or other mediums like film and video, the audience would be the listeners or viewers. Depending on the specific piece of text or the author’s perception, the audience might be real, imagined, or invoked. With a real audience, the author writes to the people actually reading or listening to the content while, for an imaginary audience, the author writes to an audience they imagine would read the content. Similarly, for an invoked audience, the author writes explicitly to a specific audience.
• Author or writer: The author or writer, also commonly referred to as the rhetor in the context of rhetorical analysis, is the person or the group of persons who authored the text or content.
• The author’s purpose: The author’s purpose is the author’s reason for communicating to the audience. In other words, the author’s purpose encompasses what the author expects or intends to achieve with the text or content.
• Alphabetic text includes essays, editorials, articles, speeches, and other written pieces.
• Imaging includes website and magazine advertisements, TV commercials, and the like.
• Audio includes speeches, website advertisements, radio or tv commercials, or podcasts.
• Context: The context of the text or content considers the time, place, and circumstances surrounding the delivery of the text to its audience. With respect to context, it might often also be helpful to analyze the text in a different context to determine its impact on a different audience and in different circumstances.

An author will use claims, supports, and warrants to build the case around their argument, irrespective of whether the argument is logical and clearly defined or needs to be inferred by the audience:

• Claim: The claim is the main idea or opinion of an argument that the author must prove to the intended audience. In other words, the claim is the fact or facts the author wants to convince the audience of. Claims are usually explicitly stated but can, depending on the specific piece of content or text, be implied from the content. Although these claims could be anything and an argument may be based on a single or several claims, the key is that these claims should be debatable.
• Support: The supports are used by the author to back up the claims they make in their argument. These supports can include anything from fact-based, objective evidence to subjective emotional appeals and personal experiences used by the author to convince the audience of a specific claim. Either way, the stronger and more reliable the supports, the more likely the audience will be to accept the claim.
• Warrant: The warrants are the logic and assumptions that connect the supports to the claims. In other words, they’re the assumptions that make the initial claim possible. The warrant is often unstated, and the author assumes that the audience will be able to understand the connection between the claims and supports. In turn, this is based on the author’s assumption that they share a set of values and beliefs with the audience that will make them understand the connection mentioned above. Conversely, if the audience doesn’t share these beliefs and values with the author, the argument will not be that effective.

Appeals are used by authors to convince their audience and, as such, are an integral part of the rhetoric and are often referred to as the rhetorical triangle. As a result, an author may combine all three appeals to convince their audience:

• Ethos: Ethos represents the authority or credibility of the author. To be successful, the author needs to convince the audience of their authority or credibility through the language and delivery techniques they use. This will, for example, be the case where an author writing on a technical subject positions themselves as an expert or authority by referring to their qualifications or experience.
• Logos: Logos refers to the reasoned argument the author uses to persuade their audience. In other words, it refers to the reasons or evidence the author proffers in substantiation of their claims and can include facts, statistics, and other forms of evidence. For this reason, logos is also the dominant approach in academic writing where authors present and build up arguments using reasoning and evidence.
• Pathos: Through pathos, also referred to as the pathetic appeal, the author attempts to evoke the audience’s emotions through the use of, for instance, passionate language, vivid imagery, anger, sympathy, or any other emotional response.

To write a rhetorical analysis, you need to follow the steps below:

With a rhetorical analysis, you don’t choose concepts in advance and apply them to a specific text or piece of content. Rather, you’ll have to analyze the text to identify the separate components and plan and prepare your analysis accordingly.

Here, it might be helpful to use the SOAPSTone technique to identify the components of the work. SOAPSTone is a common acronym in analysis and represents the:

• Speaker . Here, you’ll identify the author or the narrator delivering the content to the audience.
• Occasion . With the occasion, you’ll identify when and where the story takes place and what the surrounding context is.
• Audience . Here, you’ll identify who the audience or intended audience is.
• Purpose . With the purpose, you’ll need to identify the reason behind the text or what the author wants to achieve with their writing.
• Subject . You’ll also need to identify the subject matter or topic of the text.
• Tone . The tone identifies the author’s feelings towards the subject matter or topic.

Apart from gathering the information and analyzing the components mentioned above, you’ll also need to examine the appeals the author uses in writing the text and attempting to persuade the audience of their argument. Moreover, you’ll need to identify elements like word choice, word order, repetition, analogies, and imagery the writer uses to get a reaction from the audience.

Once you’ve gathered the information and examined the appeals and strategies used by the author as mentioned above, you’ll need to answer some questions relating to the information you’ve collected from the text. The answers to these questions will help you determine the reasons for the choices the author made and how well these choices support the overall argument.

Here, some of the questions you’ll ask include:

• What was the author’s intention?
• Who was the intended audience?
• What is the author’s argument?
• What strategies does the author use to build their argument and why do they use those strategies?
• What appeals the author uses to convince and persuade the audience?
• What effect the text has on the audience?

Keep in mind that these are just some of the questions you’ll ask, and depending on the specific text, there might be others.

Once you’ve done your preparation, you can start writing the rhetorical analysis. It will start off with an introduction which is a clear and concise paragraph that shows you understand the purpose of the text and gives more information about the author and the relevance of the text.

The introduction also summarizes the text and the main ideas you’ll discuss in your analysis. Most importantly, however, is your thesis statement . This statement should be one sentence at the end of the introduction that summarizes your argument and tempts your audience to read on and find out more about it.

After your introduction, you can proceed with the body of your analysis. Here, you’ll write at least three paragraphs that explain the strategies and techniques used by the author to convince and persuade the audience, the reasons why the writer used this approach, and why it’s either successful or unsuccessful.

You can structure the body of your analysis in several ways. For example, you can deal with every strategy the author uses in a new paragraph, but you can also structure the body around the specific appeals the author used or chronologically.

No matter how you structure the body and your paragraphs, it’s important to remember that you support each one of your arguments with facts, data, examples, or quotes and that, at the end of every paragraph, you tie the topic back to your original thesis.

Finally, you’ll write the conclusion of your rhetorical analysis. Here, you’ll repeat your thesis statement and summarize the points you’ve made in the body of your analysis. Ultimately, the goal of the conclusion is to pull the points of your analysis together so you should be careful to not raise any new issues in your conclusion.

After you’ve finished your conclusion, you’ll end your analysis with a powerful concluding statement of why your argument matters and an invitation to conduct more research if needed.

A rhetorical analysis aims to explore the goals and motivations of an author, the techniques they’ve used to reach their audience, and how successful these techniques were. Although rhetorical analysis is most used by academics as part of scholarly work, it can be used to analyze any text including speeches, novels, television shows or films, advertisements, or cartoons.

The steps to write a rhetorical analysis include:

Your rhetorical analysis introduction is a clear and concise paragraph that shows you understand the purpose of the text and gives more information about the author and the relevance of the text. The introduction also summarizes the text and the main ideas you’ll discuss in your analysis.

Ethos represents the authority or credibility of the author. To be successful, the author needs to convince the audience of their authority or credibility through the language and delivery techniques they use. This will, for example, be the case where an author writing on a technical subject positions themselves as an expert or authority by referring to their qualifications or experience.

Appeals are used by authors to convince their audience and, as such, are an integral part of the rhetoric and are often referred to as the rhetorical triangle. The 3 types of appeals are ethos, logos, and pathos.

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Rhetorical Analysis

Almost every text makes an argument. Rhetorical analysis is the process of evaluating elements of a text and determining how those elements impact the success or failure of that argument. Often rhetorical analyses address written arguments, but visual, oral, or other kinds of “texts” can also be analyzed. 

Rhetorical Features—What to Analyze

Asking the right questions about how a text is constructed will help you determine the focus of your rhetorical analysis. A good rhetorical analysis does not try to address every element of a text; discuss just those aspects with the greatest [positive or negative] impact on the text’s effectiveness. 

The Rhetorical Situation

Remember that no text exists in a vacuum. The rhetorical situation of a text refers to the context in which it is written and read, the audience to whom it is directed, and the purpose of the writer. 

The Rhetorical Appeals

A writer makes many strategic decisions when attempting to persuade an audience. Considering the following rhetorical appeals will help you understand some of these strategies and their effect on an argument. Generally, writers should incorporate a variety of different rhetorical appeals rather than relying on only one kind. 

Ethos (appeal to the writer’s credibility)

• What is the writer’s purpose (to argue, explain, teach, defend, call to action, etc.)?
• Do you trust the writer? Why?
• Is the writer an authority on the subject? What credentials does the writer have?
• Does the writer address other viewpoints?
• How does the writer’s word choice or tone affect how you view the writer?

Pathos (appeal to emotion or to an audience’s values or beliefs)

• Who is the target audience for the argument?
• How is the writer trying to make the audience feel (i.e., sad, happy, angry, guilty)?
• Is the writer making any assumptions about the background, knowledge, values, etc. of the audience?

Logos (appeal to logic)

• Is the writer’s evidence relevant to the purpose of the argument? Is the evidence current (if applicable)? Does the writer use a variety of sources to support the argument?
• What kind of evidence is used (i.e., expert testimony, statistics, proven facts)?
• Do the writer’s points build logically upon each other?
• Where in the text is the main argument stated? How does that placement affect the success of the argument?
• Does the writer’s thesis make that purpose clear?

Kairos (appeal to timeliness)

• When was the argument originally presented?
• Where was the argument originally presented?
• What circumstances may have motivated the argument?
• Does the particular time or situation in which this text is written make it more compelling or persuasive?
• What would an audience at this particular time understand about this argument?

Writing a Rhetorical Analysis Essay

No matter the kind of text you are analyzing, remember that the text’s subject matter is never the focus of a rhetorical analysis. The most common error writers make when writing rhetorical analyses is to address the topic or opinion expressed by an author instead of focusing on how that author constructs an argument.

You must read and study a text critically in order to distinguish its rhetorical elements and strategies from its content or message. By identifying and understanding how audiences are persuaded, you become more proficient at constructing your own arguments and in resisting faulty arguments made by others.

A thesis for a rhetorical analysis does not address the content of the writer’s argument. Instead, the thesis should be a statement about specific rhetorical strategies the writer uses and whether or not they make a convincing argument.

Incorrect: Smith’s editorial promotes the establishment of more green space in the Atlanta area through the planting of more trees along major roads.

This statement is summarizing the meaning and purpose of Smith’s writing rather than making an argument about how – and how effectively – Smith presents and defends his position.

Correct: Through the use of vivid description and testimony from affected citizens, Smith makes a powerful argument for establishing more green space in the Atlanta area.

Correct: Although Smith’s editorial includes vivid descriptions of the destruction of green space in the Atlanta area, his argument will not convince his readers because his claim is not backed up with factual evidence.

These statements are both focused on how Smith argues, and both make a claim about the effectiveness of his argument that can be defended throughout the paper with examples from Smith’s text.

Introduction

The introduction should name the author and the title of the work you are analyzing. Providing any relevant background information about the text and state your thesis (see above). Resist the urge to delve into the topic of the text and stay focused on the rhetorical strategies being used.

Summary of argument

Include a short summary of the argument you are analyzing so readers not familiar with the text can understand your claims and have context for the examples you provide.

The body of your essay discusses and evaluates the rhetorical strategies (elements of the rhetorical situation and rhetorical appeals – see above) that make the argument effective or not. Be certain to provide specific examples from the text for each strategy you discuss and focus on those strategies that are most important to the text you are analyzing. Your essay should follow a logical organization plan that your reader can easily follow.

Go beyond restating your thesis; comment on the effect or significance of the entire essay. Make a statement about how important rhetorical strategies are in determining the effectiveness of an argument or text.

Analyzing Visual Arguments

The same rhetorical elements and appeals used to analyze written texts also apply to visual arguments. Additionally, analyzing a visual text requires an understanding of how design elements work together to create certain persuasive effects (or not). Consider how elements such as image selection, color, use of space, graphics, layout, or typeface influence an audience’s reaction to the argument that the visual was designed to convey.

This material was developed by the KSU Writing Center and is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . All materials created by the KSU Writing Center are free to use and can be adopted, remixed, and shared at will as long as the materials are attributed. Please keep this information on materials you adapt or adopt for attribution purposes. 

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Chapter 10: The Rhetorical Situation

This chapter is about the  rhetorical situation . The rhetorical situation is a framework for rhetorical analysis designed for individual speeches and assessing their reception by an audience. This chapter offers a detailed explanation of the rhetorical situation and defines its core components: the  exigence , the  audience , and  constraints . The second section of the chapter provides detailed examples of the rhetorical situation. The third section explains a related model of “situation” called the “ rhetorical ecology .” This chapter contains YouTube video content not presented in the recorded lectures.

Watching the video clips embedded in the chapters may add to the projected “read time” listed in the headers.  Please also note that the audio recording for this chapter covers the same tested content as is presented in the chapter below.

Chapter Recordings

• Part 1:  Defining the Rhetorical Situation  (Video, ~20m)
• Part 2:  Analysis of a Rhetorical Situation  (Video, ~20m)
• Part 3:  Rhetorical Ecologies (Video, ~12m)

Read this Next

• Palczewski, Catherine Helen, et al. “Chapter 8 Rhetorical Situations.” Rhetoric in Civic Life , Strata Pub., State College, PA, 2012, pp. 225–263.

Written Assignments

• Assignment Description for Short Paper 3: Rhetorical Analysis

Part 1: Defining the Rhetorical Situation

The rhetorical situation is a fundamental framework for understanding rhetoric as a form of  persuasion , that is, as a speech or text that seeks to influence an audience’s actions. It describes rhetoric as a response to a problem or an answer to a question. Given an imperfect state of affairs, rhetoric responds or intervenes to create some change by addressing an audience. The rhetorical situation is also part of the tradition of  public address  scholarship. Public address may consist in the composition of eloquent speeches that are to be delivered in public settings, a studied reflection upon the geographical locations where public events have occurred in the past, or the researching of presidential correspondence, letters, or newsprint publications about former occupants of the executive branch. Public address is most aptly described as the criticism of public speech that approximates more closely a genuinely historical point of view regarding the ideas of our shared social history.

The rhetorical situation is also part of a tradition that understands rhetoric as  context-dependent.  Often, rhetorical scholars attribute this idea to Aristotle, who defines rhetoric as “the available means of persuasion  in any given situation. “   In other words, understanding the force of a persuasive speech act relies upon a deep knowledge of the setting in which it was spoken. Aristotle also describes rhetoric’s situations in terms of three discrete  genres :  Forensic rhetoric  is about the past and whether it did or did not happen; the traditional “situation” for forensic rhetoric was the courtroom proceeding.  Epideictic,  about matters of praise or blame, was speech situated in public spaces and delivered to a mass audience.  Deliberative  or policy-making speeches would occur in the situation of legislation and lawmaking, in service of developing a future course of action.

These three original genres of speech give the speech that is delivered in these spaces a specific function. They respond to a set of pre-defined circumstances concerning matters of  fact ,  good and bad judgment , and  policy . The rhetorical situation is an extension of this understanding. It provides us with a framework that says that speech responds to a set of pre-existing circumstances and is tailored for an audience.

According to Lloyd Bitzer,  the rhetorical situation  is that it is a “complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced in the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence.

• First, the rhetorical situation is a  complex of persons, events, objects, and relations . The complex of  persons  includes speakers and audiences.  Events  include important and historic instances of speech and speech-making.  Objects  include the symbols gathered by speeches, what those speeches reference, and the speech’s effects. The complex  relations  of the situation describes the audiences it brings forth and the modes of identification it cultivates.
• Second, the rhetorical situation  presents an actual or potential exigence . An exigence is “an urgency marked by imperfection.” It describes a state of discontent or emergency in which speech is an adequate response and can bring about a resolution. Exigences ultimately describe the problem that the speech must respond to.
• Third, the rhetorical situation can  completely or partially remove the exigence . This means that an adequate speech makes the exigence is reversible by producing effects and audiences that are capable of addressing or effecting the change as the emergency requires.
• Fourth, the rhetorical situation  introduces discourse into the situation . This means that the use or application of rhetoric can undo the emergency. A speech that will heal the situation will bring things to a resolution.
• Fifth, the  speech  presented in a rhetorical situation  may constrain human decisions or actions . This means that a situation is rhetorical when speech resolves an emergency by steering people to act in a way that, had the speech not happened, they otherwise would not.
• Finally, the  speech  presented in a rhetorical situation  may bring about a significant modification of the exigence . Significant modification means that the speech does  something  to address the problem. Ultimately, this effect of speech upon a greater exigence is what makes the situation a rhetorical one.

Key Aspects of Rhetorical Situations

• The  historical context  is the larger background in which a message is situated. The  rhetorical situation  is a subset of that field, a smaller, more defined relative of a greater historical context.
• The  rhetorical situation  always places three specific elements into a relationship with each other. These are the rhetorical  exigence , the  audience , and the  constraints .
• A  rhetorical exigence  is an urgency marked by imperfection. It is the thing to which a speech – the rhetorical response – responds.
• A  rhetorical audience  is those people who have the capacity to act on the speaker’s message.
• A  rhetorical constraint  describes those things that limit the audience to interpret the message and steer them to act in one direction or another.

A Rhetorical Situation is not a “Context” …

A further important feature of the rhetorical situation is that it is not the same as context. This is, first of all, because every message occurs in a context, and not all contexts are rhetorical. Practically, this means that context is general, and the rhetorical situation is specific. A historical context is one in which any message can occur.

… because not all contexts are rhetorical.

A rhetorical situation is a situation that allows for a response, a speech that is capable of changing people’s minds and motivating their actions. The second reason the rhetorical situation is not the same as context is that only a rhetorical situation can invite a rhetorical response.

… because only a rhetorical situation can invite a rhetorical response.

Context is the history of an utterance, a series of motivations, occurrences, and acts that set a precedent for a public and cultural status quo . As a running example of the difference between  context  and  situation,  let’s consider the 2020 presidential impeachment hearings.

The greater  context for these presidential impeachment hearings might include the 1987 Iran-Contra scandal and the 1998 impeachment hearing of Bill Clinton. Both are distant historical events in which speeches and arguments were made concerning Congress’s authority over the Executive branch. Consistently, attorneys for the President have claimed that Congress did not have the authority to investigate the President whereas Congress has claimed that authority.

The  rhetorical situation for Presidential impeachment hearings in 2020 would instead be the circumstances and consequences surrounding a 2019 phone call between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump. The speakers and speeches generated by the impeachment trials themselves would be the “rhetoric” that responded to this situation. It would be comprised of Congressional testimony, official investigative reports, political biographies, and commentary by political pundits.

Rhetorical Response/Rhetorical Audience

Not every response to a rhetorical situation is rhetorical. Non-rhetorical responses are those that do not affect the exigency.  Rhetorical responses are those that do. An emergency such as war might provoke messages that people should be afraid or display courage. Those messages can’t be separated from the emergency that occasioned it. In that sense, they are “responses” to the rhetorical situation. But not every “response” has its intended effects, and not every “response” can be directly tied back to the exigence at hand.

Below is an example of the testimony offered during the 2019 impeachment hearings instigated by the Zelensky-Trump phone conversation. The speaker is Fiona Hill, a U.S. diplomatic liaison to the Ukraine who was removed from her post just days before the phone call occurred.

A  response  is  rhetorical  when it is addressed to a  rhetorical audience ,   that is, those auditors or listeners who have the capacity to act. Not all audiences can be rhetorical audiences. In practice, this means more people will hear the rhetorical response than can address it—only people who can act count as the rhetorical audience.

For example, consider a political speech urging young people to vote  delivered by a candidate that is delivered to an audience that has a mix of high school students. However, this speech may be heard by the younger members of the crowd or people whose naturalization status prevents them from voting. If the sought-after effect of the speech is for people to vote for the candidate, then Bitzer’s theory of the rhetorical situation is limited because it only includes those with the capability to vote.

Exigence, Audience, and Constraints

The  rhetorical exigence  is defined as imperfection marked by urgency. It is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing other than it should be. There are also  non-rhetorical exigences , or “emergencies,” for which speech  isn’t  a good or effective response. Bitzer describes a natural disaster as a “non-rhetorical exigence” – a well-delivered speech, traditionally conceived, might not be the best immediate response. Instead of speech alone, an adequate rhetorical response would have to include emergency alerts, funding, and climate change mitigation efforts. What makes for a rhetorical exigence is when speech provides the remedy to the imperfection by urgency.

In the case referenced earlier, the recorded conversation between Zelensky and Trump documented a request to investigate Joe Biden in exchange for an already-promised military defense system. This conversation is the  rhetorical exigence : it generated a public emergency for which speech was deemed to be a fitting response.

The  rhetorical audience  is defined as only those capable of being influenced by discourse and of being mediators of change. They must be capable of making some change that would adjust the exigence due to hearing the speech.

There were at least two rhetorical audiences for the 2020 impeachment proceedings. One rhetorical audience of the Senate hearings consisted of the US Senate and Chief Justice John Roberts. They were the ones who would be ultimately voting on the Impeachment. In the style of forensic rhetoric, the Senators and possibly Roberts in the event of a tie were charged with discovering whether or not the President had committed an impeachable offense. Because they were the ones with the capacity to act, they composed the rhetorical audience.

The American voting public was a second rhetorical audience insofar as the messages conveyed in the Senate were meant to convince voters to turn out for the November 2020 election. Hearing the appeals on the Senate floor also persuaded those who could vote to cast them.

Finally,  rhetorical constraints  are comprised of persons, events, objects, and relations. These are part of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision-making and action.

In the Senate, constraints could include procedural limitations such as who gets to make the rules about how and when testimony is offered. It could be relations, in the sense partisan groups would seek to shut the trials down. It could be that another emergency interrupts the proceedings, or prevents that event from being remembered.

Responses to Rhetorical Situations

There are different kinds of responses to rhetorical situations.

• The first response is  conformity , in which the audience accepts what the speech is asking of them, and they perform the action that is requested.
• The second is  desecration  which violates what would have been an appropriate response. Given that there is a normal range of responses that would be accepted from a situation, the response of desecration would violate those expectations and challenge them. If someone were giving a eulogy, for instance, laughter would be a prohibited response and example of desecration.

The famous Apple “1984” advertisement linked below offers a dramatized example of both “conformity” and “desecration,” in the sense that the gathered viewers are in  conformity  with the televised speaker’s message whereas the running character who throws the sledgehammer violates conformist expectations and  desecrating  both the speaker and their message.

• The third response is  non-participation , which rejects the legitimacy of the rhetorical situation by refusing to be a part of it. In other words, it says that the emergency is not that big of an emergency, or that we don’t have to be so concerned about the emergency that is being posed. That non-participation is a rhetorical response because it simultaneously responds to the exigency by refusing to recognize it.
• Finally,  contextual reconstruction  is when a rhetor redefines the situation. In other words, given the rhetorical effort to redefine or reframe the exigency, it provides an alternative look at the current circumstances.

Below is an episode of Crossfire, a debate-style television show from the early 2000s which embraces a both-sides format. This episode features John Stewart, recently the new host of the  Daily Show . Stewart first engages in non-participation by rejecting the premise of the show and refusing to “debate.” He then engages in a  contextual reconstruction  that reframes Crossfire as contributing to a destructive both-sides mentality in politics. Stewart’s explanation is a contextual reconstruction because reframed the event, putting it in a new light. His appearance also coincided with the cancellation of the show shortly thereafter.

Part 2: Analysis of a Rhetorical Situation

This section of the chapter provides detailed examples of the major terms of the rhetorical situation, including  rhetorical exigence, context, audience, and constraints.  It ends with an example of a  rhetorical situation,  with a brief discussion of each of its parts.

Rhetorical Exigence: Michael Brown and Barack Obama

The exigence is the defect of the status quo. It is a problem we live with that has become acute; it is an emergency that is other than it should be. Rhetorical exigences can be modified through discourse. “In any rhetorical situation, there will be at least one controlling exigence which functions as an organizing principle.” This “organizing exigence” defines the audience to be addressed and the change to be effected.

On August 9, 2014, a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, spurring nationwide mass protests against police brutality. The following year, in April 2015, protests erupted in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray, who was brutally assaulted as he was arrested, fell into a coma, and died. These events also illustrated the larger problem that police departments had started to acquire military equipment as a way to police crowds, and technologies that the military had previously used during wartime deployments oversees suddenly became technologies used to police American citizens. Worse yet, police who were using these weapons had not been trained to use them appropriately. The racial bias of police departments across the country was becoming apparent given the accumulation of events related to police brutality.

This short speech by Barack Obama on October 31, 2015 sought to address the exigence of mass incarceration and over-policing by healing the divide between the different groups he addresses. We should think hard about whether this speech is accomplishing that goal given its emphasis on helping the economy and people recently released from prison. However, what is clear is that it is both a response to a problem that exists prominently at the moment that Obama is speaking and a way of curating the behavior of the audiences that are meant to hear this speech.

If the rhetorical situation “specifies the audience to be addressed,” then in the above clip, we can quite clearly hear Obama discussing “drug rehabilitation” and the pipeline from schools to prisons. We also heard Obama discussing police officers as people who “protect Americans.” To whom is this addressed? Both audiences: it is meant to affirm both the structural causes of mass incarceration for the public made angry by prominent instances of police brutality and defend violent police officers by describing them as civil servants. However, this speech neither addresses police brutality directly nor holds police officers accountable for excessive use of force. Specified audiences of the rhetorical situation includes over-policed and structurally oppressed Americans and police officers, resulting in a “middle voice” that is stretched between these audiences.

Context:  13th  by Ava DuVernay

Obama’s speech, shown above, occurs within a larger context of racial policing in the United States, which disproportionately targets minoritized communities. Every message occurs within a context: a larger, more encompassing umbrella term for the setting in which a speech or utterance happens. Context is the history of the speech or utterance, a series of motivations, occurrences, and acts that set a precedent for the current status quo – which means how things are in our present moment, right now. Consider the video below as an illustration of the larger context for Obama’s 10/31/2015 speech. The documentary “13th” by Ava DuVernay explains the historical transition from slavery to the thirteenth amendment to a contemporary system of mass incarceration.

Rhetorical Audience: George H.W. Bush v. Michael Dukakis

Next, let’s consider the rhetorical audience, which describes only those capable of being influenced by a speech (or rhetorical discourse) and of being mediators of change.

Above is another rhetorical message that is situated within the larger context of mass incarceration. However, it has a different situation: the 1988 Dukakis/Bush presidential election. The video is a campaign advertisement from the first George Bush campaign which attacks Dukakis. The exigence is Dukakis’s early lead on George Bush, which created an opening for a rhetorical response. This response is important for how it targeted specific voters by preying on the stereotype of violent minorities and the idea that people who had been imprisoned would always be “prisoners” or “criminals,” regardless of rehabilitation or if their incarceration was unjust. Let’s take a look at the video.

The rhetorical audience here isn’t just who can be influenced by the message. Viewers, for instance, might be angered by the message that’s being sent by this video. It is specifically those who would act on that message by voting against the Dukakis campaign. Viewers who might react against this message are also a rhetorical audience. They may reject the message and doing the opposite of what it asks or offer an alternative explanation of mass incarceration that does not rely on racist caricatures.

Rhetorical Constraints: Parody and Satire

Let’s consider the last element of the rhetorical situation: constraints. Constraints are comprised of persons, events, objects, and relations that are part of the situation because they can constrain decision-making and action that could modify the exigence. This example offers another campaign ad. IT is not as clearly related to the larger context of mass incarceration. This video illustrates “constraints” by showing how political campaign ads are always limited in what they can say or the messages they communicate.

The Phil Gulbright/Gil Fulbright/Phillip Mymoufwiffarts political advertisement illustrates the limitations on the speaker because he draws attention to how his own beholdenness to multiple audiences: the voting public and his private donors – narrowly shape his own rhetorical response.

Rhetorical Situation: The Challenger Address

The final example of the rhetorical situation is Ronald Reagan’s Challenger Address Speech.

The following explanation of this rhetorical situation comes from Catherine Palczewski et al.:

Reagan clearly identified the  exigence : “the tragedy of the shuttle  Challenger … is truly a national loss” that made it a day “for mourning and remembering,” but the march of progress and the call for exploration gave meaning to that loss of life.

The  context  for this meaning was a history of exploration associated with past empires. According to Reagan, the members of the space shuttle crew had “a hunger to explore the universe” and were part of a long line of explorers. The examples of the 1967  Apollo I  fire and the 1596 death of Francis Drake offered similar historical events that helped make the loss of life during exploration seem normal and expected. As Reagan explained to schoolchildren: “Its all part of the process of exploration and discovery.”

The  audiences   in the situation were composed of people who shared the need for reassurance and the sentiment that exploration defines the people of the United States: the families of the astronauts, schoolchildren, NASA workers, and the viewing public who had tuned in to the event. Reagan provided an explanation not of the accident but of exploration. He thus offered a response that quickly passed through stages of mourning while seeking to reinforce the public faith in expanded American space exploration. Reagan’s hybrid response sought to justify funding for the space program (a  deliberative  goal) while also eulogizing the lives of the astronauts who had died in the explosion (an  epideictic  goal).

The  constraints  in the situation concerned the genre of eulogy, which Reagan mirrored in structuring his speech. He also assumed a paternalistic role in the speech, speaking not only as President but as an elder relative to schoolchildren who had been watching the speech from across the country.

As a total  rhetorical situation , the  rhetor,  Reagan, responded to an exigence by speaking to particular  audiences , such as school children and the viewing public, in a way that accounted for  constraints  such as the appropriate way to respond to a tragic loss of life. Reagan did not just respond to this situation, but sought to actively redefine what it meant.

Part 3: Rhetorical Ecologies

Although Lloyd Bitzer develops the concept of “the rhetorical situation” there are several other participants in this conversation. I’d like to draw our attention to Lloyd Bitzer, Richard Vatz, and Jenny Edbauer.

• Bitzer is the originator of the rhetorical situation. In his view, there is  first  a situation,  then  there is a rhetorical response, and  finally,  rhetoric that people can act upon. The emergency arises and it creates conditions for a speaker to invent a speech that moves people to some action.
• Vatz argues that rhetoric arises not because of a situation, but because of the speaker. From this point of view, there is no emergency unless a rhetor perceives there to be an emergency. It is the speaker’s job to create a shared reality for the audience through their speech. However, if the public’s perception of an emergency depends on the speaker, a real, material reality may be at odds with other “emergencies” that a speaker brings to the public’s attention as distractions. The realities of pandemics and climate change, for instance, may be something that a speaker cannot distract from with another “imagined” exigence. Some emergencies simply cannot be ignored or deflected by a speaker because they form such a commonly felt urgency.
• Edbauer argues that rhetoric never occurs in one situation but always unfolds across many situations. Whereas Bitzer and Vatz focus on individual speeches delivered in isolated situations, Edbauer is more interested in the way that rhetoric moves from one situation to another, much like a viral tweet or video. Rhetoric that occurs in one situation may then give rise to similar rhetoric that arises in a separate situation. This then may create yet another rhetorical response, unrelated to the first, and so on. The speaker isn’t the most important person in the Edbauer model. Instead, the rhetoric moves from one rhetorical moment to the next to produce a message across a variety of situations.

Rhetorical ecologies are variations on the traditional framework of the rhetorical situation. A rhetorical situation is typically conceived as a speaker’s unique creation or as a response to an emergency. Edbauer’s version of a rhetorical situation suggests that it isn’t fixed; it does not happen once or in isolation. Instead, Edbauer argues that exigences are always a series of events. These situations create a network of lived experiences and structures of feeling. Edbauer also contextualizes rhetoric in terms of time, history, and experience. Rhetoric from this point of view isn’t linear. It doesn’t start with a speaker who devises a speech that is received by an audience. Rhetoric moves from one moment to another, from one situation to another. It changes depending on the historical moment and the particular experiences that a given instance of rhetoric foregrounds.

• The Rhetorical Situation:  Traditionally conceived, situations are  fixed spaces.  By comparison, rhetorical ecologies are  dynamic spaces . The word situation comes from the Latin  Situs , which signifies a bordered and fixed location. An example of  Situs  is the (incorrect) idea of the Earth as the presumptive center of the Universe, having a stable position that does not affect the space around it. A  Situs  for rhetoric would mean that everything revolves around the speech’s ability to respond to an emergency.
• The Rhetorical Ecology: Instead of a  Situs  for rhetoric ,  the ecology model describes rhetoric’s force, intensity, and circulatory range as a  distribution . This would be like the shift from the Newtonian Model to the Einsteinian Model, where space is molded or shaped around the speech or object. In other words, there is no clear “center” for rhetoric; rhetoric instead has many centers with distinct mass and gravity. Rather than just one speech or rhetorical discourse, an ecology-based approach would think about multiple speeches or discourses and how they affect and interact with one another.

Writing as Rhetorical Situation and Rhetorical Ecology

Let’s consider “writing an assignment” in terms of the situation and ecology models of rhetoric. As a  Situs ,  writing would be a very linear process. It would follow a first, second, third progression: receive the assignment (the exigence), outline and draft a (rhetorical) response, and see if it had the intended effect (upon an instructor or peers). The writer would make a message, then transmit it to an audience. Bitzer would say that there is an emergency to which the writer responds, like an upcoming deadline, and then their text or speech offers a more or less adequate response to that emergency.

Writing conceived in terms of  distribution  means that it would occur across a range of processes and encounters. There is, for instance, the event of starting a blank document and the tyranny of the blinking cursor. Your encounter with the keyboard might restrict or open up the flow of words. It might also create physical limitations as your fingers begin to cramp or your posture hunches over. You may stop, lose your place, or write across multiple days, weeks, or months. Then again, the same act of writing may occur in a group setting or a collaborative document. These interactions could energize your writing and stimulate productivity, or zap your ability to focus by creating pools of distracting conversation. As distribution, writing doesn’t happen in one moment or even because of one person. Instead, it happens across many moments and with the influence of many people. In a rhetorical ecology, there isn’t just one audience for writing but many. Writing would occur across distinct situations that describe how the process of writing is lived, or even how our writing outlives our unique authorship, getting picked up by other people who revise and repurpose it.

According to Edbauer, “To say that we are connected is another way of saying that we are never outside the networked interconnections of forces, energies, rhetorics, moods, and experiences. In other words our practical consciousness is never outside the prior and ongoing structure of feeling that shape the social field.”

Rhetorical ecologies highlight the importance of a shared and interactive social field. They demand an understanding of how certain speech acts, utterances, or writing circulate and proliferate. Similar to biology, where ecology refers to the relationships between organisms and their environment, rhetorical ecologies illustrate how words interact with their environment over and over again. Rhetoric from this perspective isn’t static but viral; it has effects beyond what a single author could ever anticipate.

“The intensity, force, and circulatory range of a rhetoric[al ecology] are always expanding through the mutations and new exposures attached to that given rhetoric, much like a virus.  … A rhetoric emerges already infected by the viral intensities that are circulating in the social field.”

Examples of Rhetorical Ecologies: The Amen Break

The Rhetorical Ecology model means that rhetoric never just occurs within one isolated situation, but evolves and moves across different situations.  This means that rhetoric interacts with other pressing issues or concerns of the moment. A viral intensity is how topics may be pressing or important at one moment and how those concerns may transform a given instance of rhetoric from one moment to the next. Below is a clip about the “Amen break,” which explains how a given text moves across situations rather than remaining stationary.

As the video indicates, although you may not know it, you have likely heard the Amen break in many different advertisements and musical genres. Rather than occurring in a single situation, the Amen break happens across different moments that enable it to mean something different in each instance. As an example of a rhetorical ecology, the message undergoes a significant transformation as it moves from one situation to another; it means differently because it moves.

Examples of Rhetorical Ecologies: Keep Austin Weird

Let’s consider a separate example of the rhetorical ecology that comes directly from Edbauer’s article on the topic. The phrase ‘Keep Austin Weird!’ started in Austin, Texas, with the closure of the Sound Exchange, a popular record store. Gradually over time, more and more large businesses started entering Austin, including Urban Outfitters, Barnes and Noble, and Baja Grille, each of which is (or was) a national chain. Two local businesses, Book People Books and Waterloo Records decided to stand against Austin’s stand to give a tax break to a Borders that was opening across the street from them.

According to Steve Baroo, the owner of Book People Books: “I was talking to the people of Waterloo Records about our struggle to stop the city of Austin from providing incentives to the developer, who planned to put a chain book store across the street from our stores. I suggested that we get some bumper stickers that said: ‘Keep Austin Weird,’ put both our logos on them and then give them away at our stores. He decided that we should buy five-thousand stickers and saw what our customers thought.”

The five thousand stickers were so popular that the stores immediately bought another ten thousand and then twenty-five thousand stickers. Almost a year later, nearly sixty thousand stickers had been distributed. Soon enough, other Austin businesses joined their call to weirdness. Local businesses began to sell T-shirts with individual logos on the front and the same ‘Keep Austin Weird’ logo on the back. The phrase ‘Keep Austin Weird’ quickly passed into the city’s general culture and popular circulation. One pledge pitch for a local public radio station told listeners, “You too can work toward keeping Austin Weird by pledging to keep KOOP 917 FM on the air.”

In certain parts of Austin, it is nearly impossible to go for very long without finding some display of the slogan on a T-shirt, bumper sticker, tote bag, mug, or a local businesses billboard vowing to keep it weird. In fact, even the increasingly popular counter-slogans managed to illustrate a kind of distributed ecological spread of this rhetoric.

Appearing on T-shirts and bumper stickers throughout Austin, there is the ‘Make Austin Normal’ campaign, by a University of Texas business student who wanted to make a point of – and profit from – the ironic popularity of the “Weird” slogan. “Keep Austin Weird” was also taken up by large, gentrifying  businesses, largely against its original intent. Its uptake by the South By Southwest (SXSW) Convention and Festival and local politicians indicated that  real estate corporate interests co-opted the phrase interests. Ultimately, the message moved from one situation to the next and changed until eventually its meaning became antithetical to what it had signified at its inception.

We can even see evidence of this spread in Minnesota in the form of parodic “Keep Minnesota Passive-Aggressive” slogans.  Ultimately Edbauer’s case study investigates how ‘Keep Austin Weird’ is distributed through a rhetorical ecology, one going beyond the traditional boundaries of the rhetorical situation. As rhetorics and their companion counter-rhetorics move between situations, they respond to, resist, and transform the message. Sometimes these messages address the original exigence; other times, they deflect from it. When we set aside the rhetor, audience, exigence, and constraints as the only elements of rhetoric deserving of attention, we can see how textual movement extends our understanding of where, when, and how communication happens.

Additional Resources

Models of the Rhetorical Situation

• Bitzer, Lloyd F. “The rhetorical situation.”   Philosophy & rhetoric  (1968): 1-14.
• Jamieson, Kathleen M. Hall. “Generic constraints and the rhetorical situation.”   Philosophy & Rhetoric  (1973): 162-170.
• Vatz, Richard E. “The myth of the rhetorical situation.”   Philosophy & rhetoric  (1973): 154-161.
• Consigny, Scott. “Rhetoric and its situations.”   Philosophy & rhetoric  (1974): 175-186.
• Biesecker, Barbara A. “Rethinking the Rhetorical Situation from within the Thematic of ‘Différance’.” Philosophy & rhetoric  (1989): 110-130.
• Garret, Mary, and Xiaosui Xiao. “The rhetorical situation revisited.”   Rhetoric Society Quarterly  23.2 (1993): 30-40.
• Edbauer, Jenny. “Unframing models of public distribution: From rhetorical situation to rhetorical ecologies.”   Rhetoric society quarterly  35.4 (2005): 5-24.

Examples of Rhetorical Situation-Based Criticism

• Cisneros, Josue David. “Reclaiming the Rhetoric of Reies López Tijerina: Border Identity and Agency in “The Land Grant Question”.”   Communication Quarterly  60.5 (2012): 561-587.
• Cox, J. Robert. “The fulfillment of time: King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech (August 28, 1963).” Texts in Contexts: Critical Dialogues on Significant Episodes in American Political Rhetoric  (1989): 181-204.
• Hariman, Robert. “Time and the Reconstitution of Gradualism in King’s Address: A Response to Cox: Critical Dialogues on Significant Episodes in American Political Rhetoric.”   Texts in context: Critical dialogues on significant episodes in American political rhetoric . Hermagoras Press, 1989.
• Gaipa, Mark. “A Creative Psalm of Brotherhood”: The (De) constructive Play in Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”  Quarterly Journal of Speech  93.3 (2007): 279-307.
• Johnson, Andre E. “My Sanctified Imagination: Carter G. Woodson and a Speculative (Rhetorical) History of African American Public Address, 1925–1960.”   Rhetoric and Public Affairs  24.1-2 (2021): 15-50.
• Johnson, Paul Elliott. “The art of masculine victimhood: Donald Trump’s demagoguery.”   Women’s Studies in Communication  40.3 (2017): 229-250.
• Murphy, John M. “” Our mission and our moment”: George W. Bush and September 11th.”   Rhetoric & Public Affairs  6.4 (2003): 607-632.
• Murphy, John M. “Political economy and rhetorical matter.”   Rhetoric & Public Affairs  12.2 (2009): 303-315.
• Murphy, John M. “” A time of shame and sorrow”: Robert F. Kennedy and the American jeremiad.”   Quarterly Journal of Speech  76.4 (1990): 401-414.
• Palczewski, Catherine H. “The 1919 Prison Special: Constituting white women’s citizenship.”   Quarterly Journal of Speech  102.2 (2016): 107-132.
• Winderman, Emily. “S (anger) goes postal in The Woman Rebel: Angry rhetoric as a collectivizing moral emotion.”   Rhetoric and Public Affairs  17.3 (2014): 381-420.
• Zarefsky, David. “Making the case for war: Colin Powell at the United Nations.”   Rhetoric & Public Affairs  10.2 (2007): 275-302.

Reading Rhetorical Theory Copyright © 2022 by Atilla Hallsby is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Organizing Your Analysis

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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There is no one perfect way to organize a rhetorical analysis essay. In fact, writers should always be a bit leery of plug-in formulas that offer a perfect essay format. Remember, organization itself is not the enemy, only organization without considering the specific demands of your particular writing task. That said, here are some general tips for plotting out the overall form of your essay.

Introduction

Like any rhetorical analysis essay, an essay analyzing a visual document should quickly set the stage for what you’re doing. Try to cover the following concerns in the initial paragraphs:

• Make sure to let the reader know you’re performing a rhetorical analysis. Otherwise, they may expect you to take positions or make an evaluative argument that may not be coming.
• Clearly state what the document under consideration is and possibly give some pertinent background information about its history or development. The intro can be a good place for a quick, narrative summary of the document. The key word here is “quick, for you may be dealing with something large (for example, an entire episode of a cartoon like the Simpsons). Save more in-depth descriptions for your body paragraph analysis.
• If you’re dealing with a smaller document (like a photograph or an advertisement), and copyright allows, the introduction or first page is a good place to integrate it into your page.
• Give a basic run down of the rhetorical situation surrounding the document: the author, the audience, the purpose, the context, etc.

Thesis Statements and Focus

Many authors struggle with thesis statements or controlling ideas in regards to rhetorical analysis essays. There may be a temptation to think that merely announcing the text as a rhetorical analysis is purpose enough. However, especially depending on your essay’s length, your reader may need a more direct and clear statement of your intentions. Below are a few examples.

1. Clearly narrow the focus of what your essay will cover. Ask yourself if one or two design aspects of the document is interesting and complex enough to warrant a full analytical treatment.

The website for Amazon.com provides an excellent example of alignment and proximity to assist its visitors in navigating a potentially large and confusing amount of information.

2. Since visual documents often seek to move people towards a certain action (buying a product, attending an event, expressing a sentiment), an essay may analyze the rhetorical techniques used to accomplish this purpose. The thesis statement should reflect this goal.

The call-out flyer for the Purdue Rowing Team uses a mixture of dynamic imagery and tantalizing promises to create interest in potential, new members.

3. Rhetorical analysis can also easily lead to making original arguments. Performing the analysis may lead you to an argument; or vice versa, you may start with an argument and search for proof that supports it.

A close analysis of the female body images in the July 2007 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine reveals contradictions between the articles’ calls for self-esteem and the advertisements’ unrealistic, beauty demands.

These are merely suggestions. The best measure for what your focus and thesis statement should be the document itself and the demands of your writing situation. Remember that the main thrust of your thesis statement should be on how the document creates meaning and accomplishes its purposes. The OWl has additional information on writing thesis statements.

Analysis Order (Body Paragraphs)

Depending on the genre and size of the document under analysis, there are a number of logical ways to organize your body paragraphs. Below are a few possible options. Which ever you choose, the goal of your body paragraphs is to present parts of the document, give an extended analysis of how that part functions, and suggest how the part ties into a larger point (your thesis statement or goal).

Chronological

This is the most straight-forward approach, but it can also be effective if done for a reason (as opposed to not being able to think of another way). For example, if you are analyzing a photo essay on the web or in a booklet, a chronological treatment allows you to present your insights in the same order that a viewer of the document experiences those images. It is likely that the images have been put in that order and juxtaposed for a reason, so this line of analysis can be easily integrated into the essay.

Be careful using chronological ordering when dealing with a document that contains a narrative (i.e. a television show or music video). Focusing on the chronological could easily lead you to plot summary which is not the point of a rhetorical analysis.

A spatial ordering covers the parts of a document in the order the eye is likely to scan them. This is different than chronological order, for that is dictated by pages or screens where spatial order concerns order amongst a single page or plane. There are no unwavering guidelines for this, but you can use the following general guidelines.

• Left to right and top to down is still the normal reading and scanning pattern for English-speaking countries.
• The eye will naturally look for centers. This may be the technical center of the page or the center of the largest item on the page.
• Lines are often used to provide directions and paths for the eye to follow.
• Research has shown that on web pages, the eye tends to linger in the top left quadrant before moving left to right. Only after spending a considerable amount of time on the top, visible portion of the page will they then scroll down.

Persuasive Appeals

The classic, rhetorical appeals are logos, pathos, and ethos. These concepts roughly correspond to the logic, emotion, and character of the document’s attempt to persuade. You can find more information on these concepts elsewhere on the OWL. Once you understand these devices, you could potentially order your essay by analyzing the document’s use of logos, ethos, and pathos in different sections.

The conclusion of a rhetorical analysis essay may not operate too differently from the conclusion of any other kind of essay. Still, many writers struggle with what a conclusion should or should not do. You can find tips elsewhere on the OWL on writing conclusions. In short, however, you should restate your main ideas and explain why they are important; restate your thesis; and outline further research or work you believe should be completed to further your efforts.

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How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis

Last Updated: August 8, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Megan Morgan, PhD . Megan Morgan is a Graduate Program Academic Advisor in the School of Public & International Affairs at the University of Georgia. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Georgia in 2015. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,382,092 times.

A rhetorical analysis can be written about other texts, television shows, films, collections of artwork, or a variety of other communicative mediums that attempt to make a statement to an intended audience. In order to write a rhetorical analysis, you need to be able to determine how the creator of the original work attempts to make his or her argument. You can also include information about whether or not that argument is successful. To learn more about the right way to write a rhetorical analysis, continue reading.

Gathering Information

• The speaker refers to the first and last name of the writer. If the writer has any credentials that lend to his or her authority on the matter at hand, you should also briefly consider those. Note that if the narrator is different from the writer, though, it could also refer to the narrator.
• The occasion mostly refers to the type of text and the context under which the text was written. For instance, there is a big difference between an essay written for a scholarly conference and a letter written to an associate in the field.
• The audience is who the text was written for. This is related to the occasion, since the occasion can include details about the audience. In the example above, the audience would be a conference of scholars versus an associate in the field.
• The purpose refers to what the writer wants to accomplish in the text. It usually includes selling a product or point of view.
• The subject is simply the topic the writer discusses in the text.

• Ethos, or ethical appeals, rely on the writer's credibility and character in the garnering of approval. Mentions of a writer's character or qualifications usually qualify as ethos. For instance, if a family therapist with 20 years of practice writes an article on improving familial relations, mention of that experience would be using ethos. Despite their name, these appeals don't have anything to do with "ethics" as we usually think of them.
• Logos, or logical appeals, use reason to make an argument. Most academic discourse should make heavy use of logos. A writer who supports an argument with evidence, data, and undeniable facts uses logos.
• Pathos, or pathetic appeals, seek to evoke emotion in order to gain approval. These emotions can include anything from sympathy and anger to the desire for love. If an article about violent crime provides personal, human details about victims of violent crime, the writer is likely using pathos.

• Analogies and figurative language, including metaphors and similes, demonstrate an idea through comparison.
• Repetition of a certain point or idea is used to make that point seem more memorable.
• Imagery often affects pathos. The image of a starving child in a low income country can be a powerful way of evoking compassion or anger.
• Diction refers to word choice. Emotionally-charged words have greater impact, and rhythmic word patterns can establish a theme more effectively.
• Tone essentially means mood or attitude. A sarcastic essay is vastly different from a scientific one, but depending on the situation, either tone could be effective.
• Addressing the opposition demonstrates that the writer is not afraid of the opposing viewpoint. It also allows the writer to strengthen his or her own argument by cutting down the opposing one. This is especially powerful when the author contrasts a strong viewpoint he or she holds with a weak viewpoint on the opposing side.

• Ask yourself how the rhetorical strategies of appeals and style help the author achieve his or her purpose. Determine if any of these strategies fail and hurt the author instead of helping.
• Speculate on why the author may have chosen those rhetorical strategies for that audience and that occasion. Determine if the choice of strategies may have differed for a different audience or occasion.
• Remember that in a rhetorical analysis, you do not need to agree with the argument being presented. Your task is to analyze how well the author uses the appeals to present her or his argument.

Writing the Introduction

• By letting the reader know that your paper is a rhetorical analysis, you let him or her know exactly what to expect. If you do not let the reader know this information beforehand, he or she may expect to read an evaluative argument instead.
• Do not simply state, "This paper is a rhetorical analysis." Weave the information into the introduction as naturally as possible.
• Note that this may not be necessary if you are writing a rhetorical analysis for an assignment that specifically calls for a rhetorical analysis.

• The introduction is a good place to give a quick summary of the document. Keep it quick, though. Save the majority of the details for your body paragraphs, since most of the details will be used in defending your analysis.

• You do not necessarily need to mention these details in this order. Include the details in a matter that makes sense and flows naturally within your introductory paragraph.

• Try stating which rhetorical techniques the writer uses in order to move people toward his or her desired purpose. Analyze how well these techniques accomplish this goal.
• Consider narrowing the focus of your essay. Choose one or two design aspects that are complex enough to spend an entire essay analyzing.
• Think about making an original argument. If your analysis leads you to make a certain argument about the text, focus your thesis and essay around that argument and provide support for it throughout the body of your paper.
• Try to focus on using words such as "effective" or "ineffective" when composing your thesis, rather than "good" or "bad." You want to avoid seeming like you are passing value judgments.

Writing the Body

• The order of logos, ethos, and pathos is not necessarily set in stone. If you intend to focus on one more than the other two, you could briefly cover the two lesser appeals in the first two sections before elaborating on the third in greater detail toward the middle and end of the paper.
• For logos, identify at least one major claim and evaluate the document's use of objective evidence.
• For ethos, analyze how the writer or speaker uses his or her status as an "expert" to enhance credibility.
• For pathos, analyze any details that alter the way that the viewer or reader may feel about the subject at hand. Also analyze any imagery used to appeal to aesthetic senses, and determine how effective these elements are.
• Wrap things up by discussing the consequences and overall impact of these three appeals.

• Start from the beginning of the document and work your way through to the end. Present details about the document and your analysis of those details in the order the original document presents them in.
• The writer of the original document likely organized the information carefully and purposefully. By addressing the document in this order, your analysis is more likely to make more coherent sense by the end of your paper.

• Evidence often include a great deal of direct quotation and paraphrasing.
• Point to spots in which the author mentioned his or her credentials to explain ethos. Identify emotional images or words with strong emotional connotations as ways of supporting claims to pathos. Mention specific data and facts used in analysis involving logos.

• Avoid use of the first-person words "I" and "we." Stick to the more objective third-person.

Writing the Conclusion

• When restating your thesis, you should be able to quickly analyze how the original author's purpose comes together.
• When restating your thesis, try to bring more sophistication or depth to it than you had in the beginning. What can the audience now understand about your thesis that they would not have without reading your analysis?

• Keep this information brief. You spent an entire essay supporting your thesis, so these restatements of your main ideas should only serve as summaries of your support.

• Indicate what that research must entail and how it would help.
• Also state why the subject matter is important enough to continue researching and how it has significance to the real world.

Writing Help

Community Q&A

• Avoid the use of "In conclusion..." While many writers may be taught to end conclusion paragraphs with this phrase as they first learn to write essays, you should never include this phrase in an essay written at a higher academic level. This phrase and the information that usually follows it is empty information that only serves to clutter up your final paragraph. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Do not introduce any new information in your conclusion. Summarize the important details of the essay. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Do not argue in an analysis. Focus on the "how" they made their point, not if it's good or not. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/establishing_arguments/rhetorical_strategies.html
• ↑ https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp1/chapter/text-an-overview-of-the-rhetorical-modes/
• ↑ https://oer.pressbooks.pub/informedarguments/chapter/rhetorical-modes-of-writing/
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/visual_rhetoric/analyzing_visual_documents/organizing_your_analysis.html
• ↑ https://www.pfw.edu/offices/learning-support/documents/WriteARhetoricalAnalysis.pdf

About This Article

To write a rhetorical analysis, start by determining what the author of the work you're analyzing is trying to argue. Then, ask yourself if they succeeded in making their argument. Whether you think they did or didn't, include quotes and specific examples in your analysis to back up your opinion. When you're writing your analysis, use the third-person to appear objective as opposed to using "I" or "we." Also, make sure you include the author's name, profession, and purpose for writing the text at the beginning of your analysis to give reader's some context. To learn different ways to structure your rhetorical analysis from our English Ph.D. co-author, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Writers Workshop

Understanding the Rhetorical Situation

The rhetorical situation is a concept that helps writers more deeply understand the texts they’re reading, the texts they’re writing, and how messages are crafted and communicated across different contexts.   

  The parts of the rhetorical situation are as follows:   

• Audience : The intended readers of a text.  
• Purpose : What the writer wants the text to do in the world, such as affecting how the audience feels, thinks, or acts.   
• Genre : What category a text belongs to based on its form, content, style, etc. Examples include  a lab report, a persuasive academic essay, an academic journal article, a social media post.  
• Exigency : This word comes from a Latin word that means “urgent.” From a writing process perspective, “exigency” refers to conditions that make a piece of text particularly appropriate. These conditions can be other events that are happening at the same time or a tough issue the text addresses.  
• Context : Any other factors that affect the creation of the text, such as timing or current events.  

The following graphic shows how these elements interact:  

The rhetorical situation can be helpful in remembering all the factors to be considered at the start of a writing project, or that need to be thought through while providing feedback on a draft or analyzing a text. Some questions to consider might include:  

• What is the purpose of this text? How does/should the audience shape this text? Does the text reflect its intended audience?
• Will this medium effectively convey this information and/or persuade this audience?
• Is this genre the most effective at conveying this information/persuading this audience?
• Are there any contextual factors that need to be considered when working on this text?
• Are there any mismatches between the audience, purpose, genre, and/or context?   

  Your answers to these questions may change your way of approaching the writing project or the feedback you provide for a piece of writing. Consider the following Twitter post as an example:  

We can see the rhetorical elements at work in this short post. On the first look, this post has a clear marketing purpose towards the sports fans. The use of orange and blue in both the text and the visual will speak volumes to the intended audience. At the same time, as a Twitter post, the construction of this text will have to follow the genre conventions of a tweet (e.g., 280 characters or less) and the reading habits of many Twitter users ( e.g., scrolling down fairly quickly). Meanwhile, the mentioning function can also help this tweet get to its intended audience. While engaging in academic writing projects will be different from crafting a Twitter post, academic writers will consciously or unconsciously make many decisions regarding these rhetorical elements.  

  Related Links:

• Rhetorical Analysis
• Understanding Assignments
• Prewriting and Getting Started

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10 Rhetorical Situation Examples

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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The term ‘rhetorical situation’ is defined as “the context in which speakers or writers create discourse” (Bitzer, 1999, p. 217)

If a literacy teacher asks you to describe the rhetorical situation, they’re asking you to analyze the context of the discourse.

So, what does this mean?

Usually, it means you need to examine two things:

• The rhetorical elements used, and
• The rhetorical devices used.

I’ll summarize these below so we can jump straight to our examples, then elaborate on them toward the end of the article. Here’s the TL;DR:

Rhetorical Elements

You’ll need to examine the following elements first and foremost to demonstrate the ‘rhetorical situation’:

• Text: e.g. a books, speech, podcast, film, video, etc.
• Author: e.g. the speaker, writer, or producer of the text.
• Audience: e.g. the listener, reader, viewer, or consumer of the text.
• Purpose: e.g. why the text was produced.
• A setting: e.g. the time, location, and contextual factors (Gabrielsen, 2010).

Rhetorical Devices

These are the methods of communicating utilized in the text, including:

• Logos: the use of logic to communicate.
• Ethos: the use of authority or credibility when conveying a message.
• Pathos: the use of emotion to communicate.

These devices are based on Aristotle’s philosophy.

By examining rhetorical elements and devices, we can develop a deeper understanding of a rhetorical situation, how it works, and perhaps, why it hasn’t worked so well!

Rhetorical Situation Examples

1. steve jobs stanford speech (2005).

In 2005, Steve Jobs delivered the commencement address at Stanford University, sharing personal stories of his life and career. The speech, titled “Connecting the Dots,” has since become iconic, offering lessons on life, work, and following one’s passion. Jobs addressed a crowd of graduates, faculty, and family members, leaving a lasting impact on the audience.

To determine the rhetorical situation, let’s unpick the key elements and devices in this discourse:

• Text: The text was a commencement address, consisting of anecdotes from Jobs’ life, including dropping out of college, being fired from Apple, and facing a life-threatening illness, to convey broader life lessons.
• Author: The author was Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios, known for his innovation in the technology and entertainment industries.
• Audience: The primary audience was the graduating class of Stanford University, along with faculty and families, but the speech has since reached a global audience through various media.
• Purpose: The purpose of the speech was to inspire and motivate the graduates by encouraging them to pursue their passions, face setbacks with resilience, and see opportunities in life’s challenges.
• Rhetorical Devices: Jobs employed storytelling as a major rhetorical device, using personal anecdotes to create an emotional connection (pathos) with the audience. He also established ethos through his reputation as a successful entrepreneur and innovator. The use of repetition and parallel structure helped emphasize key points and make the speech memorable.

2. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter (1997)

In 1997, J.K. Rowling released “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” the first book in a series that would become a global phenomenon. The novel introduced readers to a magical world filled with complex characters, intricate plots, and a battle between good and evil. The book, and the series it initiated, captivated audiences worldwide, influencing an entire generation and beyond.

• Text: The text is a fantasy novel, blending elements of magic, adventure, and coming-of-age to explore themes of friendship, courage, and the choice between good and evil.
• Author: The author, J.K. Rowling, was relatively unknown at the time but has since become one of the most successful and influential writers in modern literature.
• Audience: Initially aimed at children and young adults, the novel quickly attracted readers of all ages, transcending demographic boundaries.
• Purpose: The primary purpose was to entertain, but the novel also sought to explore deeper themes and values, such as the importance of choice, the value of friendship, and the nature of courage.
• Rhetorical Devices: Rowling used vivid imagery and detailed world-building to immerse readers in the magical universe. The use of allegory allowed for the exploration of real-world themes within a fantastical context, and character development served to engage and invest the audience in the narrative.

3. Malala Yousafzai’s UN Speech (2012)

In 2012, Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for female education, delivered a speech at the United Nations Youth Assembly, advocating for the right to education for every child. This speech came after she survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban for her activism. Her address, titled “Malala Day,” called for worldwide access to education and emphasized the power of youth.

• Text: The text was a formal speech, rich with personal anecdotes, global examples, and a call to action, focusing on the importance of education and the role of youth in enacting change.
• Author: The author, Malala Yousafzai, was a young education activist from Pakistan, who became a symbol of resilience and advocacy for girls’ education worldwide.
• Audience: The primary audience was the United Nations Youth Assembly, but the speech was also broadcast globally, reaching a diverse international audience.
• Purpose: The purpose was to advocate for universal access to education, particularly for girls, and to inspire young people to take action for change.
• Rhetorical Devices: Malala used ethos by sharing her personal experiences and challenges, pathos by evoking emotions related to the struggles of children deprived of education, and logos by presenting facts and logical arguments for universal education. The repetition of phrases like “We will continue” emphasized determination and resilience.

4. Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

In 2006, former Vice President Al Gore released the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” aiming to educate the public about the reality and dangers of climate change. The film combined data, personal anecdotes, and visual imagery to present a compelling case for urgent action. It played a significant role in raising global awareness about climate change and won two Academy Awards.

• Text: The text was a documentary film, utilizing a mix of scientific data, visual graphics, personal narratives, and future projections to convey the urgency of addressing climate change.
• Author: The author and narrator of the documentary was Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States, and a long-time environmental advocate.
• Audience: The intended audience was the global public, policymakers, and anyone with a stake in the future of the planet.
• Purpose: The film aimed to raise awareness about the reality of climate change, educate the public on its consequences, and inspire individual and collective action to address it.
• Rhetorical Devices: Gore effectively used ethos, drawing on his political background and environmental advocacy. Pathos was employed through alarming visual imagery and projections of climate impact, and logos through the presentation of scientific data and facts. The juxtaposition of current realities with future projections served to emphasize the urgency of action.

5. Greta Thunberg’s UN Speech (2019)

In 2019, Greta Thunberg, a young climate activist from Sweden, addressed the United Nations Climate Action Summit, passionately urging world leaders to take immediate action against climate change. Her speech, “How Dare You,” criticized the inaction of political leaders and highlighted the urgent need for substantive change to combat environmental degradation. The address became a rallying cry for environmental activists around the world.

• Text: The text was a concise yet powerful speech, marked by emotive language, direct criticism, and a clear call for urgent and meaningful action against climate change.
• Author: The author, Greta Thunberg, was a teenage climate activist from Sweden, who gained international recognition for her Fridays for Future movement and candid advocacy for environmental protection.
• Audience: The primary audience was the world leaders and delegates at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, but the speech also reached a global audience through extensive media coverage.
• Purpose: The purpose of the speech was to hold world leaders accountable for their inaction, raise awareness about the climate crisis, and galvanize immediate and substantive action to protect the environment.
• Rhetorical Devices: Thunberg employed pathos through her passionate and emotive delivery, ethos by referencing her personal sacrifices and commitment to climate activism, and logos by citing scientific data on climate change. The repeated phrase “How dare you” served as a powerful rhetorical device to emphasize her criticism and demand accountability.

6. Facebook (2004-Now)

In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook, a social networking platform initially for Harvard students, which quickly expanded to other universities and eventually to the general public. Facebook’s mission was to connect people and build community, but it also raised questions about privacy, data security, and the impact on social dynamics. The platform revolutionized communication and became a subject of scrutiny and debate.

• Text: The text in this scenario is the platform itself, Facebook, which included user profiles, status updates, friend requests, and various features that allowed for online social interaction and information sharing.
• Author: The author is, well, anyone with a Facebook profile who wants to make a post!
• Audience: The initial audience was Harvard students, but it quickly expanded to include a diverse and global user base, ranging from teenagers to older adults.
• Purpose: The primary purpose of Facebook was to connect people, facilitate communication, and build online communities, but it also aimed to monetize user engagement through targeted advertising.
• Rhetorical Devices: The platform utilized user-friendly interface and features to appeal to a wide audience (ethos), incorporated real-time notifications and updates to engage users emotionally (pathos), and used algorithms and data analytics to optimize user experience and advertising (logos). The concept of “friends” and “likes” served as rhetorical devices to foster a sense of community and validation.

7. MLK’s I Have a Dream Speech (1963)

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The speech articulated King’s vision of a future where people would not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character. This address became a defining moment in the Civil Rights Movement and a symbol of the ongoing fight for racial equality.

• Text: The text was a public speech, characterized by its rhythmic cadence, vivid imagery, and references to the American Dream, the Bible, and the U.S. Constitution.
• Author: The author, Martin Luther King Jr., was a prominent leader in the Civil Rights Movement, known for his advocacy for nonviolent resistance and racial equality.
• Audience: The immediate audience was the over 250,000 civil rights supporters present at the march, but the speech was also broadcast nationwide, reaching a much wider audience.
• Purpose: The purpose of the speech was to advocate for an end to racism and segregation, inspire hope and solidarity among civil rights supporters, and call for freedom and equality for all.
• Rhetorical Devices: King employed a range of rhetorical devices including anaphora, through the repetition of the phrase “I have a dream,” metaphors, comparing racial injustice to a “bank of injustice,” and allusions to biblical and historical texts, establishing ethos, pathos, and logos.

8. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1590s)

William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet,” written in the early 1590s, is a tragic tale of two young lovers from feuding families in Verona. The play explores themes of love, fate, conflict, and death, and it has been celebrated for its exploration of the human condition and the consequences of societal discord. The timeless story has been adapted countless times across various mediums.

• Text: The text is a play, written in iambic pentameter, consisting of dialogue, soliloquies, and stage directions, exploring complex characters and universal themes.
• Author: The author, William Shakespeare, was an English playwright and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language and world literature.
• Audience: The original audience was the theatergoers of Elizabethan England, but the play has since reached a global audience and has been studied and performed worldwide.
• Purpose: The purpose of “Romeo and Juliet” was to entertain, but also to explore and reflect on human nature, societal conflict, love, and fate.
• Rhetorical Devices: Shakespeare used a variety of rhetorical devices including metaphor, simile, foreshadowing, and dramatic irony. The use of soliloquies provided insight into characters’ thoughts and motivations, and the poetic structure added rhythm and emphasis to the dialogue.

9. Churchill’s We Shall Fight on the Beaches (1944)

In 1940, Winston Churchill delivered one of his most famous speeches to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom during World War II, known as the “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech. The speech was a powerful call to arms, aiming to inspire the British people and maintain morale during a particularly challenging time in the war. Churchill’s words became a symbol of British resilience and determination.

• Text: The text was a wartime speech, characterized by its defiant tone, vivid imagery of defense, and the repeated assurance of Britain’s resolve to fight against Nazi Germany, regardless of the circumstances.
• Author: The author, Winston Churchill, was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, known for his leadership during World War II and his ability to inspire and unite the British people through his speeches.
• Audience: The immediate audience was the House of Commons, but the speech was also broadcast over the radio to the British public and the wider world.
• Purpose: The purpose of the speech was to bolster British morale, assure the public of the government’s commitment to victory, and demonstrate resolve to the international community.
• Rhetorical Devices: Churchill employed anaphora, with the repetition of the phrase “We shall fight,” to emphasize determination. He used vivid imagery to depict various battle scenarios, and pathos to evoke a sense of national pride and duty.

10. The US Declaration of Independence (1776)

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson penned the United States Declaration of Independence, a document that declared the thirteen American colonies independent from British rule. The text outlined the philosophical justification for independence, listed grievances against King George III, and articulated the fundamental principles that the new nation would embody. The Declaration is a foundational document of the United States and a symbol of the pursuit of liberty.

• Text: The text is a formal political document, characterized by its eloquent prose, philosophical reasoning, and clear enumeration of grievances and principles.
• Author: The principal author was Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father and the third President of the United States, with contributions from John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.
• Audience: The immediate audience was the British Crown, but the document was also addressed to the international community and the American people, both contemporaneous and future.
• Purpose: The purpose of the Declaration was to formally announce and justify the colonies’ decision to sever ties with Britain and to articulate the foundational principles of the new nation, including equality, liberty, and self-governance.
• Rhetorical Devices: Jefferson employed a range of rhetorical devices including parallelism, in the listing of grievances; allusion, to philosophical and Enlightenment ideas; and pathos, to evoke a sense of injustice and the desire for liberty. The famous phrase “We hold these truths to be self-evident” exemplifies the use of ethos to establish the moral grounding of the American cause.

Let’s dive deeper into the five rhetorical elements you’ll want to look at in order to explain a rhetorical istuation:

The text is the medium through which the message is conveyed.

It can take various forms, such as books, speeches, podcasts, films, videos, or digital content, each with its unique characteristics and conventions.

The nature of the text influences how the message is received and interpreted by the audience (Gabrielsen, 2010).

For instance, a speech might appeal to the audience’s emotions through tone and delivery, while a written article might rely on structured arguments and evidence (Toye, 2013). Understanding the nuances of the text is crucial for analyzing the effectiveness of the communication.

See More: A List of Text Types

The author is the originator of the message, responsible for crafting the content and delivering it to the audience.

This person utilizes their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives to shape the message, whether they are a speaker, writer, filmmaker, or content creator.

The author’s credibility, intentions, and relationship with the audience play a significant role in how the message is received (Toye, 2013). For example, a well-respected expert in a field may have more influence over an audience than an unknown individual.

Analyzing the author’s background, motivations, and biases is essential for a comprehensive understanding of the rhetorical situation.

3. Audience

The audience is the recipient of the message, whose interpretation and response are integral to the communication process.

This group can be diverse, encompassing listeners, readers, viewers, or consumers, each bringing their unique perspectives, values, and expectations to the interaction.

The audience’s background, beliefs, and context significantly influence how they perceive and react to the message (Gabrielsen, 2010; Toye, 2013).

A successful communicator must understand and consider the audience’s needs, expectations, and potential biases to effectively convey their message. The audience’s engagement and response are key indicators of the success or failure of the rhetorical situation.

See More: Examples of Intended Audiences

The purpose is the driving force behind the creation of the text, answering the question of why the message was produced.

It can range from informing, persuading, entertaining, inspiring, to challenging the audience, and it shapes the content, tone, and structure of the message (Gabrielsen, 2010).

Understanding the purpose is crucial for both the author and the audience, as it guides the creation of the message and influences how the audience interprets and responds to it (Toye, 2013).

A clear and well-defined purpose is more likely to result in effective communication and achieve the desired outcome. Analyzing the purpose provides insight into the goals of the author and the potential impact of the message.

Analyzing purpose is a particularly important media literacy skill .

The setting encompasses the time, location, and contextual factors that frame the rhetorical situation (Toye, 2013).

This includes the historical, cultural, social, and political environment in which the communication occurs.

The setting influences both the creation and reception of the message, shaping the author’s perspective and the audience’s interpretation.

For example, a speech delivered during a time of crisis may be received differently than one given in a period of stability.

Understanding the setting is essential for a holistic analysis of the rhetorical situation, providing context and background that illuminate the motivations, challenges, and implications of the communication (Gabrielsen, 2010).

Rhetorical Devices (Aristotle)

Besides elements of the text, we can also examine the text’s rhetorical devices, which are the methods employed to communicate and persuade.

Generally, we refer to Aristotle’s writings on rhetoric for this.

Here are Aristotle’s rhetorical devices:

1. Logos (Appeal to Logic)

Logos is a rhetorical device that involves the use of logical reasoning to persuade the audience. It often incorporates facts, statistics, data, and well-structured arguments to appeal to the audience’s sense of reason.

A communicator using logos will aim to present clear, concise, and coherent arguments that are supported by evidence and sound reasoning (Bitzer, 1998).

This approach is particularly effective when discussing topics that require a rational and objective perspective.

By appealing to the audience’s intellect, logos helps to establish the credibility of the argument and the reliability of the speaker or writer.

Read More: Logos Examples

2. Ethos (Appeal to Credibility)

Ethos is a rhetorical device focused on establishing the credibility and moral character of the speaker or writer.

It involves demonstrating knowledge, expertise, and a sense of ethics to gain the trust and respect of the audience.

Ethos can be established through the author’s reputation, professional background, and the way they present themselves and their arguments.

The use of appropriate language, tone, and style, as well as showing respect for differing viewpoints, contributes to building ethos (Bitzer, 1998; Rapp, 2022).

When the audience perceives the communicator as credible and trustworthy, they are more likely to be persuaded by the message.

Read More: Ethos Examples

3. Pathos (Appeal to Emotions)

Pathos appeals to the emotions, values, and desires of the audience to elicit feelings that support the speaker or writer’s argument.

It involves the use of emotive language, vivid imagery, and personal anecdotes to create an emotional response.

Pathos can be particularly effective in persuading the audience by making them feel a certain way, whether it be compassion, anger, joy, or sorrow (Bitzer, 1998).

However, it is important for pathos to be balanced with logos and ethos to ensure the argument does not become overly emotional or manipulative.

When used effectively, pathos can create a strong connection between the audience and the message, making the argument more compelling.

Read More: Pathos Examples

4. Telos (Purpose)

Telos is not traditionally listed as a rhetorical device in the same manner as logos, ethos, and pathos.

However, in a broader sense, telos refers to the purpose or goal of a rhetorical situation or a speaker’s intention in communication (Rapp, 2022). It involves considering the end purpose of the message and how it aligns with the values, expectations, and needs of the audience.

Understanding telos is crucial for both the communicator and the audience, as it provides insight into the motivations behind the message and its intended impact. A clear and well-defined telos is essential for effective communication and achieving the desired outcome.

5. Kairos (Timing)

Kairos refers to the opportune moment or the right timing in which to deliver a message. It involves considering when the audience will be most receptive and when the message will have the greatest impact.

Kairos takes into account external factors such as the cultural, social, and political climate, as well as internal factors like the audience’s mood and level of interest (Rapp, 2022).

Recognizing and seizing the opportune moment can significantly enhance the effectiveness of the message.

Kairos, therefore, emphasizes the importance of context and timing in rhetorical situations, contributing to the persuasiveness and success of the communication.

Aristotle. (2014). The Art of Rhetoric . Toronto: HarperCollins.

Bitzer, L. (1998). The Rhetorical Sitaution . In Condit, C. M., Lucaites, J. L., & Caudill, S. (Eds.). Contemporary Rhetorical Theory, First Edition. Guilford Publications.

Gabrielsen, J. (2010). The Power of Speech . Hans Reitzels Forlag.

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